Travel Diary 4 7 Oct 2009 I am in Göttingen now, talking to primatologists at the DPZ (Deutsches Primatenzentrum) conference on hybridisation. Neither I nor any of the said primatologists are in the picture above. This is an appropriate place to give a talk on species concepts, because in the 18th century, Johann Friedrich Blumenbach worked here, and he is the originator of the so-called biological species concept. Tonight is a talk on the tree of life, a subject dear to my heart, by Mike Arnold of the University of Georgia, and the conference proper begins tomorrow. Biology Ecology and Biodiversity Evolution Philosophy Science
Biology So much to say, so little time 9 Jul 2009 As I prepare for the conferences I start attending and blathering at from tomorrow, I of course find a treasure trove of things to blog about. Since I can’t really do them all justice, I will merely put a one liner for each below the fold. Read More
Evolution The origins of agriculture now extended 28 Sep 200818 Sep 2017 Readers know I think religion is post-agricultural, which raises some difficulties if we find evidence of organised religious behaviours before the onset of agriculture. The case in point here being Göbeli Tepe. Now a recent model of the process of cereal domestication has set back the beginnings of agriculture some… Read More
Epistemology Pattern cladism and the myth of theory dependence of observation 4 Mar 2011 A new paper has been published in the History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences, entitled “Pattern Cladism, Homology, and Theory-Neutrality” by Christopher Pearson. Either the journal has done something horrible to the text, or the author doesn’t know the difference between Willi Hennig and William Hennig, or between Gareth… Read More