When philosophy meets historical taxonomy 5 Apr 2010 Chris Taylor does this absolutely amazing blog. I find myself checking to see if he’s done another one of his wonderful taxon posts, where he picks some usually obscure group of animals and makes them interesting and alive. He’s done it again, for indrids, a group of lemurs, but what I love most of all is that he cites a philosopher of science, Ian Hacking. That’s some serious blogging. Biology Ecology and Biodiversity Philosophy Science Species and systematics Systematics
Philosophy More on phenomena 9 Jun 201122 Jun 2018 Semifinalist for the 3 Quarks Daily Philosophy Prize 2011 In my last post, I asked whether there was a foundation for my view that species are extra-theoretical phenomena. I have done some further reading, especially Michela Massimi’s book Kant and Philosophy of Science Today, which I will have to buy…. Read More
Biology Species-related publications 8 Sep 20238 Sep 2023 What’s a personal blog for, if not to blow my own horn? Well, it can only be to blow the horns of those who I have collaborated with, of course. Two of my most recent publications are: The first is a chapter in the open Access book edited by Schwartz… Read More
Epistemology Was Jesus a philosopher? 9 May 2010 A local philosophy mailing list has announced a talk being given by a philosophically inclined plumber on Jesus’ philosophy. This rather begs the question* that he was indeed a philosopher. Jesus certainly held ethical principles and taught doctrines, but that is insufficient to make someone a philosopher. Many people have… Read More
Chris’s blog is one of my favorites, too: I typically check it right afte seeing if there is anything new on Darren Naish’s “Tetrapod Zoology.” — The (sadly debunked) story about the name “Indri” coming from a misunderstanding of a native informant’s utterance seems to be a linguistic urban myth: a story that just seems so RIGHT that it stays alive (and reproduces: note the existence of variants with different examples) despite debunking. Do you know of any genuine examples of words stemming from such misunderstandings?(*) — (*) Samuel Johnson in his dictionary included the etymology “from French coeur méchant” for ‘curmudgeon’, attributing it to an “anonymous correspondent.” I have been told be people I trust (but can’t document) that a plagiarizing dictionary publisher said ‘courmudgeon’ was “from the French ‘coeur,’ anonymous, and méchant,’ a correspondent.” The French word for a transom over a door is ‘vasistas,’ which (according to Robert) is from the German ‘Wass ist das,’ but I don’t know if this stems from genuine confusion or some attempt at humor.
All flattery is gratefully received! Allen, the Hacking paper I cited comments on the example of the French ‘vasistas’. Hacking suggests that the word does come from German and simply refers to the function of the vasistas as somewhere you can look out from to see who (or what) is there before opening the door.
The derivation of ‘vasistas’ seems quite plausible to me, given that there is a respectable type of furniture known in English as a Whatnot. (You were probably sold it as a cake stand.)