Wilkins on Wilkins on The Galilean Library 15 Apr 2008 In an amazing display of misjudgment, Paul Newall of the (otherwise) excellent site The Galilean Library has interviewed me about my views on the philosophy of biology. There are some serious folk interviewed there, so of course I feel like a fraud, but hey, you all know I love the “sound” of my own voice. There’s also a lot of interesting material there for those who want to know more about the history and philosophy of science, and history and philosophy in general. Go visit it even if you don’t want to hear more of your favorite silverback. Evolution General Science History
Biology Paul Griffiths on Human Nature 6 Aug 200922 Jun 2018 Below the fold is a notice for a lecture by my friend and colleague Paul Griffiths that anyone in Sydney ought to go to. Sydney, Australia, not Sydney in any other country that seems to use all other countries’ placenames… Read More
Evolution Species, framing, and stuff 24 Mar 2008 So here’s a neo-Thomist talking about species, and not getting it due to (i) prior metaphysical commitments, and (ii) not understanding Aristotle – dude, he never called anything a species, not in the biological sense. Eidos and genos were just ordinary words he coopted for the Metaphysics and Posterior Analytics…. Read More
Epistemology What warrant is there for belief in God? 22 Mar 201222 Mar 2012 Every morning on the way to the campus of the University of Melbourne I pass by the United Faculty of Theology, and I often wish that someone would come out and engage me in a debate. Partly because I am an ornery fellow who loves a good stoush, but also… Read More
Terrific interview – gives me a much clearer idea of where you’re coming from than I had before. I had to laugh when I read about “protein and functional molecular philosophy”, though. Is there nothing philosophers won’t philosoph about?
Terrific interview – gives me a much clearer idea of where you’re coming from than I had before. I had to laugh when I read about “protein and functional molecular philosophy”, though. Is there nothing philosophers won’t philosoph about?
Terrific interview – gives me a much clearer idea of where you’re coming from than I had before. I had to laugh when I read about “protein and functional molecular philosophy”, though. Is there nothing philosophers won’t philosoph about?
We will philosoph for money on any topic. We’re just whores for ideas. Proteins and functional biology raise some interesting problems – is functionality a natural kind concept or is it something contingent? Some properties of molecules must be universal due to the properties of weak and strong forces, structure, etc. Others must rely on their context, so that what does a task in one taxon might do a distinct job in another (see the discussion on “core genomes” in my Microbial Species paper in HPLS). So something is both a natural kind and not a natural kind at some level, depending? How can that not be interesting to ask?
I’m a regular reader of your blog but with this interview I’ve become your fan! Many times while reading your responses and explanations in the interview, the proverbial imaginary lightbulb went on over my head and I had to say “Ah-ha!”. As a molecular biologist, during graduate school I often had long discussions with my lab mates about the nature of the gene and how there is no all-purpose satisfactory definition. Also, during a postdoctoral stay, one of my bosses and I would have friendly debates about what a bacterial species meant in light of how often bacteria exchange genetic information and how it’s common that bacteria that are phenotipically clasified into the same species can be very different regarding the genes they posess. I’ll eagerly await your book!
Oh, so you’re not the John *M* Wilkins who is the co-author of the book I am reading, “Food in the Ancient World”. There seem to be so many John Wilkinses.
Oh, so you’re not the John *M* Wilkins who is the co-author of the book I am reading, “Food in the Ancient World”. There seem to be so many John Wilkinses.
Oh, so you’re not the John *M* Wilkins who is the co-author of the book I am reading, “Food in the Ancient World”. There seem to be so many John Wilkinses.