Epistemology Grayling on Gopnik 1 Aug 2009 Anthony Grayling has one of his measured and literate reviews up at the Barnes and Noble Review, which, like it or not, is becoming the online TLS (which is also online). In it he reviews Alison Gopnik’s The Philosophical Baby,which argues that neonates to five year olds are engaged on… Read More
Epistemology The relation of classification to abductive reasoning 3 Feb 20135 Feb 2013 In my last post, commentator DiscoveredJoys raised the question of abductive reasoning and how it relates to my claim that classification is basically pattern recognition. It’s a fair question. First I’ll repeat my response, and then go into it a little more. In my view, abduction is larger in scope… Read More
Biology Ranking 24 Aug 2010 A diversion in the natural classification series. In natural classification, we typically do not find that patterns due to the process of historical causation come arrayed neatly in boxes within boxes, and yet one of the most common temptations is for classifiers to set up fixed ranks. The Linnaean scheme… Read More