George C. Williams dies 11 Sep 2010 Few evolutionary biologists have had the impact within and without their field as has George Williams, who died this week. His groundbreaking Adaptation and Natural Selection in 1966 set off the debate over levels of selection, the ubiquity of natural selection and some decent philosophising. It’s no exaggeration to say that the field of the philosophy of biology got going with the publication of that book. Here’s a 1998 interview with Williams. Some obituaries: New York Times David Sloan Wilson The Chronicle of Higher Education, by Michael Ruse Reminiscences at The Edge; More from The Edge, from Robert Trivers. The Loom by Carl Zimmer NCSE Wikipedia I’ll add more as I find them Biology Evolution Philosophy Science EvolutionPhilosophy
Metaphysics On hierarchies 29 Jun 200922 Jun 2018 We often make an appeal to hierarchical relations, in social and political discourse, in religion, in metaphysics (or that odd part of it called mereology) and more recently in social behaviour in animals, called ethology. But what we don’t do much is discuss what it is that a hierarchy is,… Read More
Epistemology God and evolution 3: The problem of purpose A 13 Apr 201322 Jun 2018 The problem of purpose When Darwin published the Origin, he was lauded by his Christian friend and correspondent Asa Gray, who wrote: “…Darwin’s great service to Natural Science in bringing back to it Teleology: so that instead of Morphology versus Teleology, we shall have Morphology wedded to Teleology” Darwin replied… Read More
Evolution Briefly 16 Feb 2009 I finally have internet – only took Primus three weeks to install and get working my internet and phone – and that was with an existing account and line! Tonight I went to the opening of a Thomas Henry Huxley exhibit at the Macleay Museum, and Michael Ruse gave an… Read More
Thanks for posting this, John. I’m assuming that you are on the effect, rather than the cause, side of the causal network that gives you fairly quick access to info on recent star deaths in the field. (I will continue to encourage caution from other legends when around you, nonetheless.) I guess I think it’s slight hyperbole to say that Williams’ 1966 book kicked of the field–Hull was already chipping around earlier in the 1960s–though it was the first port of call for those like Hull and Sober during the 1970s as they came to be major players themselves. (Derivatively, it was “the” book that I was advised to read and work through by both of them, early on, as I’m sure others were.) Williams was on the faculty in some capacity, or recently had been, when I started at Queen’s in 1992, but I never met him.
I’ll have some news about you soon, Rob, don’t worry… I think Williams’ book started a lot of philosophy of biology that might not otherwise have been done, not least because of his influence on Dawkins and the subsequent framing of issues over gene selectionism and group selection. Of course he’s not the only source; if you want to identify a single originator, I think that Beckner, M. 1959. The biological way of thought. New York: Columbia University Press. is a good candidate, or perhaps Smart, J. J. C. 1959. Can biology be an exact science? Synthese 11 (4):359-368. Other suggestions? Before the news about you becomes public, I mean?