Historicism 17 Nov 202417 Nov 2024 I have made my latest Substack post available to all. In which I defend myself from heinous charges and calumnies, and defend a kind of historicism. Book History Science
Biology What came before Darwin 2 Oct 2009 If ever you wondered what the “default” view was before the modern era began with the late 18th century naturalists, culminating in Darwin, regarding the natural world, this passage, from a philosopher with the odiferous name William Smellie, gives a complete summary. Read More
Epistemology Peirce on Darwin (1877) 18 Aug 2009 The Darwinian controversy is, in large part, a question of logic. Mr. Darwin proposed to apply the statistical method to biology. The same thing had been done in a widely different branch of science, the theory of gases. Though unable to say what the movements of any particular molecule of… Read More
Epistemology Natural classification and the dynamics of science 6 Aug 201018 Sep 2017 About thirty years ago there was much talk that geologists ought only to observe and not to theorize; and I well remember someone saying that at this rate a man might as well go into a gravel pit and count the pebbles and describe their colours. How odd it is… Read More