Wilkins on demarcation 13 Aug 201413 Aug 2014 Continuing Adam Ford’s series of me as a talking head: Epistemology Philosophy Science
Philosophy Sokal on philosophers of science 5 Nov 2009 Julian Baggani has an interview up at The Philosophers’ Magazine with Alan Sokal, famous for the hoax that bears his name. In it Sokal says things about philosophy of science that he seems to think are dismissive, but which I would say are themselves philosophy of science claims that can… Read More
Biology Book reviews 24 Apr 2010 Several interesting book reviews arrived in my feed this morning, of books I have not read. Jerry Coyne reviews FAPP’s What Darwin Got Wrong alongside Dawkins’ The Greatest Show on Earth. I cannot help but think that he is on the one hand very easy on Dawkins and fails to… Read More
Evolution God and evolution 4: The problem of Purpose B 19 Apr 201323 Jun 2018 Providence and plans The problem for theists is that most theisms assume that God has a plan. This is sometimes called providence: God provides for goals he has, for the benefit of the organisms, and in particular for humans, and for the achievement of his purposes. As soon as Darwin… Read More
When one says “anything goes”, does that include “whistling Dixie”, or “playing Calvinball”, or “knock-knock” jokes? And if one entertains the idea that someday someone which produce something which looks like real science, but includes “intelligent design”? Well, what precludes a real scientific theory which includes also whistling Dixie?
The likelihoods of science requiring “Whistling Dixie” are slightly higher than the likelihoods it involves Intelligent Design. I’ve seen a few experiments that needed something nearly as arbitrary as a song to work.