Whewell’s Ghost, a HPS blog 7 Sep 2010 In conjunction with John Lynch and Rebekah Higgit, a new blog has been launched for history and philosophy of science posts, entitled Whewell’s Ghost. Rebekah and I have kicked it off with a couple of posts. Anyone may contribute to this, on the history and philosophy of any aspect of science, including medicine, physics or even (shudder) math. All you have to do is ask to be made a contributor. You can post the entire post there, or just the opening section with a link to you own blog, or double post. It’s a clearing house so that people can find good posts on HPS. The only thing I would ask is that a certain degree of scholarship is maintained. Don’t post things you aren’t up on, because those commenters, they’re vicious! I know from bitter experience… Administrative History Philosophy Science AdministrativeHistoryPhilosophy
Education On the need for critical reasoning 29 Oct 2009 Alfred Russel Wallace, Darwin’s codiscoverer of natural selection as an evolutionary mechanism, was something of a contradiction. On the one hand he argued with a flat earth advocate, getting involved in a lawsuit as a result. On the other he opposed vaccination and promoted spiritualism. It is not the case… Read More
Philosophy Toulmin dies 10 Dec 20094 Oct 2017 One of my earliest and longest-lasting influences, Stephen Toulmin, has died. There is an obituary here [Hat tip Mata Kimasitayo]. People know many aspects of Toulmin’s works, but the one that most strongly influenced me was his evolutionary philosophy of cultural change, in his Human Understanding. Although it looks simplistic… Read More
Ethics and Moral Philosophy Morality and evolution 4: Is morality fitness-enhancing? 19 May 201422 May 2014 [Morality and Evolution 1 2 3 4 5 6 7] If we agree that morality enhances fitness, because it enables cooperation, several questions arise: what sort of fitness enhancement does it provide and to what? In short, what is the selection process tracking? To say that morality provides a foundation for social cohesion and the consequent… Read More