Philosophy of Biology
Fall 2009
Part of Darwin's “Diagram of Divergence of Taxa”, the only diagram in On The Origin of Species. The diagram depicts “hypothetical phylogenetic relationships, showing how lineages diverge from common ancestors and give rise to both extinct and extant species. Time intervals (between Roman numerals) represent thousands of generations. [...] Distance along the horizontal axis represents degree of divergence (as, for example, in body form). Darwin recognized that rates of evolution vary greatly, showing this by different angles in the diagram” (Futuyma, 2009, p. 21). Note too that the diagram displays Darwin's recognition that it is the most divergent species that are most likely to survive. For the full diagram see here.
Details | Overview | Textbooks | Assessment | Schedule [ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | Exam | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 ]
Details
| Course Codes | Location | Times |
|---|---|---|
| PHL 251, PHL 251W, PHL 451 | Lattimore Hall 413 | Mondays and Wednesdays, 12:30pm to 1:45pm |
Overview
This class is an introduction to philosophy of biology focussing on issues connected with the nature and scope of biological explanations. We begin by contrasting evolutionary and design explanations. We then examine a set of foundational questions concerning the nature and scope of the explanations provided by natural selection. We conclude by examining the explanatory role of genes in development. No prior philosophy of science or biology will be assumed.
Printable Syllabus
Available here [PDF]
Textbooks
The following textbook is mandatory:
Elliott Sober, Philosophy of Biology, Westview Press, Boulder CO, 2nd Ed, 2000. [AddAll]
For those without any background in evolutionary biology, good recent popular introductions to the evidence for evolution are:
Sean B. Carroll, The Making of the Fittest: DNA and the Ultimate Forensic Record of Evolution, W. W. Norton, New York, 2006. [AddAll]
Jerry A. Coyne, Why Evolution is True, Viking, New York, 2009. [AddAll]
The definitive textbooks on evolutionary biology are:
Douglas J. Futuyma, Evolution, Sinauer Associates, Sunderland MA, 2nd Ed, 2009. [AddAll]
Mark Ridley, Evolution, Blackwell, Malden MA, 3rd Ed, 2004. [AddAll]
Assessment
Requirements:
- Ten 1–2 page weekly reading summaries. You should pick at least one of the readings for the class in question and summarise, as clearly and concisely as you can, the main argument. Please also indicate whether there were parts of the reading that you found unclear or confusing.
- A 10–15 minute presentation, followed by discussion.
- An in class exam, consisting of multiple choice and short answer questions. [Sample Questions]
- An 8–10 page research paper, questions to be provided.
The final grade will be determined as follows:
| Reading Summaries: | 10% |
| Presentation: | 20% |
| Exam: | 20% |
| Final Paper: | 50% |
Assessment dates:
| Exam: | Wednesday 21 October [Sample Questions] |
| Second Paper: | Wednesday 9 December |
| Reading Summaries: | At each associated class. |
| Note: Late summaries will not be accepted. |
Note: Graduate students or students enrolled for upper level writing credit will be required to write longer essays. Graduate students will also be required to do additional reading and meet for an additional discussion section.
Reading
Lecture One (Wednesday 2 September)
Introduction: What is Philosophy of Biology?
No Class (Monday 7 September)
Section I: Evolutionary Theory and Design Arguments
Lecture Two (Wednesday 9 September)
Introductory Reading
Sober (Chapter 1, “What Is Evolutionary Theory?”).
Primary Reading
Kitcher, Philip. 1985. “Darwin's Achievement”, in Nicholas Rescher (Ed), Reason and Rationality in Natural Science, University Press of America, Lanham MD, pp. 127–189. [PDF]
Reprinted in The Advancement of Science: Science without Legend, Objectivity without Illusions, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1993, pp. 11—57; In Mendel's Mirror: Philosophical Reflections on Biology, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2003, pp. 45–93; and in Marc Lange (Ed), Philosophy of Science: An Anthology, Blackwell, Malden MA, 2006, pp. 154—188.
Secondary Reading
Darwin, Charles. “Struggle for Existence” and “Natural Selection”, in On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life, John Murray, London, 1st Ed, 1859, Chapters 3 and 4, pp. 60–79 and 80–130. [PDF]
Plutynski, Anya and Warren J. Ewens. “Population Genetics”, in Sahotra Sarkar and Jessica Pfeifer (Eds), The Philosophy of Science: An Encyclopedia, Routledge, New York, 2005, pp. 578–585. [PDF]
Multimedia
Listen, with slides, to Elliott Sober present an overview of Darwin's theory here. The paper on which this talk is based is:
Elliott Sober, “Did Darwin Write the Origin Backwards?”, in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 106, Supplement 1, June 2009, pp. 10048–10055. [URI]
Lecture Three (Monday 14 September)
Introductory Reading
Sober (Chapter 2, “Creationism”).
Primary Reading
Elliott Sober, “Intelligent Design” in Evidence and Evolution: The Logic Behind the Science, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2008. [PDF] [References]
For today, read Sections 2.1–2.15 (Section 2.14 may be skipped).
Multimedia
Watch (or listen) to Michael Ruse ask “Is Darwinism Past its ‘Sell-By’ Date?” here.
Lecture Four (Wednesday 16 September)
Primary Reading
Elliott Sober, “Intelligent Design” in Evidence and Evolution: The Logic Behind the Science, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2008.
For today, read Sections 2.16–2.22.
Multimedia
Watch Kenneth R. Miller present an overview of the evidence for evolution, criticise the argument from irreducible complexity, and endorse theistic evolutionism here. Two papers expanding Miller's remarks on the argument from irreducible complexity are:
Kenneth R. Miller, “Answering the Biochemical Argument from Design”, in Neil A. Manson (Ed), God and Design: The Teleological Argument and Modern Science, Routledge, London, 2003, pp. 292–307. [URI]
Kenneth R. Miller, “The Flagellum Unspun: The Collapse of “Irreducible Complexity””, in William A. Dembski and Michael Ruse (Eds), Debating Design: From Darwin to DNA, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2004, pp. 81–97. [URI]
Section II: Natural Selection
Overview
Stephens, Christopher. 2007. “Natural Selection”, in Matthen, Mohan and Stephens, Christopher (Eds), Philosophy of Biology, Handbook of the Philosophy of Science, Vol. 3, Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 111–127. [PDF]
Lecture Five (Monday 21 September)
Primary Reading
Walsh, Denis M. 1998. “The Scope of Selection: Sober and Neander on What Natural Selection Explains”, in Australasian Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 76, No. 2, June 1998, pp. 250–264. [URI]
Secondary Reading
Forber, Patrick. 2005. “On the Explanatory Roles of Natural Selection”, in Biology and Philosophy, Vol. 20,
No. 2, March 2005, pp. 329–342. [URI]
Lecture Six (Wednesday 23 September)
Introductory Reading
Alexander Rosenberg and Frederic Bouchard. 2008. “Fitness”, in Edward N. Zalta (Ed), Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, Stanford, 2008. [URI]
Primary Reading
Sober (Chapter 3, “Fitness”).
Secondary Reading
Brandon, Robert N. 1978. “Adaptation and Evolutionary Theory”, in Studies In History and Philosophy of Science Part A, Vol. 9, No. 3, September 1978, pp. 181–206. [PDF]
Reprinted in Rosenberg, Alexander and Robert Arp. 2010. Philosophy of Biology: An Anthology, Blackwell, Malden MA, pp. 103–120.
Mills, Susan K. and John H. Beatty. 1979. “The Propensity Interpretation of Fitness”, in Philosophy of Science, Vol. 46, No. 2, June 1979, pp. 263–286. [URI]
Reprinted in Elliott Sober (Ed). 2006. Conceptual Issues in Evolutionary Biology: An Anthology, 3rd Ed, MIT Press, Cambridge MA, pp. 3–24.
Lecture Seven (Monday 28 September)
Primary Reading
Elliott Sober, “The Two Faces of Fitness”, in Rama Shankar Singh and Costas B. Krimbas and Diane B. Paul and John H. Beatty (Eds), Thinking about Evolution: Historical, Philosophical, and Political Perspectives, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2000, pp. 309—321.[PDF]
Reprinted in Elliott Sober (Ed). 2006. Conceptual Issues in Evolutionary Biology: An Anthology, 3rd Ed, MIT Press, Cambridge MA, pp. 25–40.
Secondary Reading
Orr, H. Allen. 2009. “Fitness and its Role in Evolutionary Genetics”, in Nature Reviews Genetics, Vol. 10, No. 8, August 2009, pp. 531–539. [URI]
Ariew, André and Zachary Ernst, “What Fitness Can't Be”, in Erkenntnis, forthcoming. [URI]
Abrams, Marshall. 2009. “What Determines Biological Fitness? The Problem of the Reference Environment”, in Synthese, Vol. 166, No. 1, January 2009, pp. 21–40. [URI]
No Class (Wednesday 30 September)
No Class (Monday 5 October)
Lecture Eight (Wednesday 7 October)
Primary Reading
Matthen, Mohan and Ariew, André 2002. “Two Ways of Thinking about Fitness and Natural Selection”, in The Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 99, No. 2, February 2002, pp. 55–83. [PDF]
Secondary Reading
Walsh, Denis M, Tim Lewens, and Ariew, André. 2002. “The Trials of Life: Natural Selection and Random Drift”, in Philosophy of Science, Vol. 69, No. 3, September 2002, pp. 429–446. [URI]
Lecture Nine (Monday 12 October)
Primary Reading
Reisman, Kenneth and Patrick Forber. 2005. “Manipulation and the Causes of Evolution”, in Philosophy of Science, Vol. 72, No. 5, December 2005, pp. 1113–1123. [URI]
Secondary Reading
Shapiro, Lawrence A and Elliott Sober. 2007. “Epiphenomenalism—The Do's and the Don'ts”, in Thinking about Causes: From Greek Philosophy to Modern Physics, Pittsburgh-Konstanz Series in the Philosophy and History of Science, University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, pp. 235–264. [PDF]
Abrams, Marshall. 2007. “How Do Natural Selection and Random Drift Interact?”, in Philosophy of Science, Vol. 74, No. 5, December 2007, pp. 666–679. [URI]
Matthen, Mohan and Ariew, André. forthcoming. “Selection and Causation”, in Philosophy of Science. [PDF]
Lecture Ten (Wednesday 14 October)
Introductory Reading
Fodor, Jerry A. 2007. “Why Pigs Don't Have Wings”, in London Review of Books, Vol. 29, No. 20, 18 October 2007, pp. 19–22. [URI]
Primary Reading
Fodor, Jerry A. 2008. “Against Darwinism”, in Mind and Language, Vol. 23, No. 1, February 2008, pp. 1–24.[URI]
Secondary Reading
See the commentaries by Daniel C. Dennett, Peter Godfrey-Smith, Elliott Sober, and a reply by Fodor, here.
Special Event (Friday 16 October)
Massimo Pigliucci will give an Ecology and Evolutionary Biology colloquium talk on “Evolutionary Theory: Toward an Extended Synthesis?”. The colloquium starts at 3:00pm in Hutchison Hall 316. Useful papers to read beforehand are:
Pigliucci, Massimo. 2007. “Do we Need an Extended Evolutionary Synthesis?”, in Evolution, Vol. 61, No. 12, December 2007, pp. 2743–2749. [URI]
Pigliucci, Massimo. 2009. “An Extended Synthesis for Evolutionary Biology”, in Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Vol. 1168, pp. 218–228. [URI]
Lecture Eleven (Monday 19 October)
No particular readings scheduled for today. We'll have a general discussion on the course so far, a review session for the exam, and perhaps some continued discussion on Fodor (the discussion I referred to in class is here). You may submit a reading summary on any of the readings for the course so far.
Exam (Wednesday 21 October)
Sample exam questions are available here [PDF]
Lecture Twelve (Monday 26 October)
Cancelled
Lecture Thirteen (Wednesday 28 October)
Cancelled
Lecture Fourteen (Monday 2 November)
Introductory Reading
Tim Lewens. 2007. “Functions”, in Matthen, Mohan and Stephens, Christopher (Eds), Philosophy of Biology, Handbook of the Philosophy of Science, Vol. 3, Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 525–547. [PDF]
Primary Reading
Godfrey-Smith, Peter. 1993. “Functions: Consensus Without Unity”, in Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. 74, No. 3, September 1993, pp. 196–208. [PDF]
Reprinted in Hull, David L. and Michael Ruse (Eds). 1998. The Philosophy of Biology, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 258–279; and in Buller, David J. 1999. Function, Selection, and Design, State University of New York Press, Albany NY, pp. 185–198.
Secondary Reading
Kitcher, Philip. 1993. “Function and Design”, Peter A. French, Theodore E. Uehling Jr., and Howard K. Wettstein (Eds), Philosophy of Science, Vol. 18, Midwest Studies in Philosophy, University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, pp. 379–397. [PDF]
Reprinted in Allen, Colin, Marc Bekoff, and George V. Lauder (Eds). 1997. Nature's Purposes: Analyses of Function and Design in Biology, MIT Press, Cambridge MA, pp. 479–504; Hull, David L. and Michael Ruse (Eds). 1998. The Philosophy of Biology, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 258–279; Buller, David J. 1999. Function, Selection, and Design, State University of New York Press, Albany NY, pp. 159–184; and Kitcher, Philip. 2003. In Mendel's Mirror: Philosophical Reflections on Biology, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 159–176.
Amundson, Ron and George V. Lauder. 1994. “Function without Purpose”, in Biology and Philosophy, Vol. 9, No. 4, October 1994, pp. 443–469. [PDF]
Reprinted in Hull, David L. and Michael Ruse (Eds). 1998. The Philosophy of Biology, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 227–257.
Cummins, Robert. 2002. “Neo-Teleology”, in Ariew, André, Cummins, Robert, and Mark Perlman (Eds), Functions: New Essays in the Philosophy of Psychology and Biology, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 157–173. [PDF]
Reprinted in Rosenberg, Alexander and Robert Arp. 2010. Philosophy of Biology: An Anthology, Blackwell, Malden MA, pp. 164–174.
Lecture Fifteen (Wednesday 4 November)
Introductory Reading
Lloyd, Elisabeth A. 2005. “Units and Levels of Selection”, in Edward N. Zalta (Ed), Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, Stanford, 2005. [URI]
Revised version published as “Units and Levels of Selection”, in David L. Hull and Michael Ruse (Eds), The Cambridge Companion to the Philosophy of Biology, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2007, pp. 44–65.
Okasha, Samir. 2008. “Units and Levels of Selection”, in Sahotra Sarkar and Anya Plutynski (Eds), A Companion to the Philosophy of Biology, Blackwell, Malden MA, pp. 138–156. [PDF]
Primary Reading
Sober (Chapter 4, “The Units of Selection Problem”).
Secondary Reading
Elliott Sober and Richard C. Lewontin. 1982. “Artifact, Cause, and Genic Selection”, in Philosophy of Science, Vol. 49, No. 2, June 1982, pp. 157–180. [URI]
Reprinted in Elliott Sober (Ed). 1984. Conceptual Issues in Evolutionary Biology: An Anthology, 1st Ed, MIT Press, Cambridge MA, pp. 210–231; and Rosenberg, Alexander and Robert Arp. 2010. Philosophy of Biology: An Anthology, Blackwell, Malden MA, pp. 297–312.
Lecture Sixteen (Monday 9 November)
Primary Reading
Sterelny, Kim and Kitcher, Philip. 1988. “The Return of the Gene”, in The Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 85, No. 7, July 1988, pp. 339–361. [URI]
Reprinted in Sterelny, Kim. 2001. The Evolution of Agency and Other Essays, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 29–52; Kitcher, Philip. 2003. In Mendel's Mirror: Philosophical Reflections on Biology, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 94–112; and Rosenberg, Alexander and Robert Arp. 2010. Philosophy of Biology: An Anthology, Blackwell, Malden MA, pp. 313–326.
Secondary Reading
Elliott Sober. 1990. “The Poverty of Pluralism: A Reply to Sterelny and Kitcher”, in The Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 87, No. 3, March 1990, pp. 151–158. [URI]
Kitcher, Philip, Sterelny, Kim, and C. Kenneth Waters. 1990. “The Illusory Riches of Sober's Monism”, in The Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 87, No. 3, March 1990, pp. 158–161. [URI]
Elliott Sober and David Sloan Wilson. 1994. “A Critical Review of Philosophical Work on the Units of Selection Problem”, in Philosophy of Science, Vol. 61, No. 4, December 1994, pp. 534–555. [URI]
Reprinted in Hull, David L. and Michael Ruse (Eds). 1998. The Philosophy of Biology, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 198–220.
Okasha, Samir. 2005. “Multilevel Selection and the Major Transitions in Evolution”, in Philosophy of Science, Vol. 72, No. 5, December 2005, pp. 1013–1025. [URI]
Lecture Seventeen (Wednesday 11 November)
Presentations
Hannah (on Gould and Lewontin)
Introductory Reading
Elliott Sober. 1996. “Evolution and Optimality: Feathers, Bowling Balls, and the Thesis of Adaptationism”,
in Philosophic Exchange, Vol. 26, pp. 41–57. [PDF]
Excerpted as “Six Sayings About Adaptationism”, in Hull, David L. and Michael Ruse (Eds). 1998. The Philosophy of Biology, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 72–86.
Peter Godfrey-Smith, and Jon F. Wilkins. 2008. “Adaptationism”, in Sahotra Sarkar and Anya Plutynski (Eds), A Companion to the Philosophy of Biology, Blackwell, Malden MA, pp. 186–202. [PDF]
Primary Reading
Sober (Chapter 5, “Adaptationism”).
Secondary Reading
Gould, Stephen Jay, and Richard C. Lewontin. 1979. “The Spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian Paradigm: A Critique of the Adaptationist Programme”, in Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B: Biological Sciences, Vol. 205, No. 1161, 21 September 1979, pp. 581–598. [PDF]
Reprinted in Elliott Sober (Ed). 2006. Conceptual Issues in Evolutionary Biology: An Anthology, 3rd Ed, MIT Press, Cambridge MA, pp. 79–98.
Smith, John Maynard. 1978. “Optimization Theory in Evolution”, in Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, Vol. 9, November 1978, pp. 31–56. [URI]
Reprinted in Elliott Sober (Ed). 2006. Conceptual Issues in Evolutionary Biology: An Anthology, 3rd Ed, MIT Press, Cambridge MA, pp. 99–130.
Multimedia
Watch Daniel C. Dennett claim that nature is full of optimal design in an interview at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Symposium. [mov, ~220mb]
Dennett's ideas on this topic are most fully spelled out in his Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1995. See especially the passage “Searching for Quality”, pp. 229-261 [PDF]. For a critical review, see Orr, H. Allen. 1996. “Dennett's Strange Idea”, in Boston Review, Vol. 21, No. 3, Summer 1996. [URI]
Section III: Genetics and Development
Overview
C. Kenneth Waters. 2007. “Molecular Genetics”, in Edward N. Zalta (Ed), Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, Stanford. [URI]
Lecture Eighteen (Monday 16 November)
Presentations
Aaron (on Kitcher)
Introductory Reading
Ingo Brigandt and Alan Love. 2008. “Reductionism in Biology”, in Edward N. Zalta (Ed), Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, Stanford. [URI]
Primary Reading
Kitcher, Philip. 1984. “1953 and all That. A Tale of Two Sciences”, in Philosophical Review, Vol. 93, No. 3, July 1984, pp. 335–373. [URI]
Reprinted in In Mendel's Mirror: Philosophical Reflections on Biology, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2003, pp. 3–30; and in Elliott Sober (Ed). 2006. Conceptual Issues in Evolutionary Biology: An Anthology, 3rd Ed, MIT Press, Cambridge MA, pp. 261–282.
Secondary Reading
Weslake, Brad. forthcoming. “Explanatory Depth”, in Philosophy of Science. [PDF]
Lecture Nineteen (Wednesday 18 November)
Presentation
Alex (on Maynard Smith)
Primary Reading
C. Kenneth Waters. 1990. “Why the Anti-Reductionist Consensus Won't Survive: The Case of Classical
Mendelian Genetics”, in PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association, Vol. 1, pp. 125–139. [URI]
Reprinted in Elliott Sober (Ed). 2006. Conceptual Issues in Evolutionary Biology: An Anthology, 3rd Ed, MIT Press, Cambridge MA, pp. 283–300.
Secondary Reading
Elliott Sober. 1999. “The Multiple Realizability Argument Against Reductionism”, in Philosophy of Science, Vol. 66, No. 4, December 1999, pp. 542–564. [URI]
Reprinted in Elliott Sober (Ed). 2006. Conceptual Issues in Evolutionary Biology: An Anthology, 3rd Ed, MIT Press, Cambridge MA, pp. 301–324.
Steel, Daniel. 2004. “Can a Reductionist be a Pluralist?”, in Biology and Philosophy, Vol. 19, No. 1, January 2004, pp. 55–73. [PDF]
Lecture Twenty (Monday 23 November)
Presentation
Sarah
Introductory Reading
Stephen M. Downes. 2009. “Heritability”, in Edward N. Zalta (Ed), Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, Stanford. [URI]
Primary Reading
Elliott Sober. 1988. “Apportioning Causal Responsibility”, in The Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 85, No. 6, June 1988, pp. 303–318. [URI]
Secondary Reading
Richard C. Lewontin. 1974. “The Analysis of Variance and the Analysis of Causes”, in American Journal of Human Genetics, Vol. 26, No. 3, May 1974, pp. 400–411. [PDF]
Reprinted in Levins, Richard and Richard C. Lewontin. 1985. The Dialectical Biologist, Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA, pp. 109–122 and in International Journal of Epidemiology, Vol. 35, No. 3, June 2006, pp. 520–525.
Block, Ned. 1995. “How Heritability Misleads About Race”, in Cognition, Vol. 56, No. 2, August 1995, pp. 99–128. [PDF]
No Class (Wednesday 25 November)
Lecture Twenty One (Monday 30 November)
Presentation
Neil
Introductory Reading
Peter Godfrey-Smith. 2000. “Explanatory Symmetries, Preformation, and Developmental Systems Theory”, in Philosophy of Science, Vol. 67, September 2000, S322–S331. [URI]
Primary Reading
Griffiths, Paul E. and Russell D. Gray. 1994. “Developmental Systems and Evolutionary Explanation”, in The Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 91, No. 6, June 1994, pp. 277–304. [URI]
Reprinted in Hull, David L. and Michael Ruse (Eds). 1998. The Philosophy of Biology, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 117–145.
Secondary Reading
Sterelny, Kim, Kelly C. Smith, and Michael Dickison. 1996. “The Extended Replicator”, in Biology and Philosophy, Vol. 11, No. 3, July 1996, pp. 377–403. [PDF]
Griffiths, Paul E. and Russell D. Gray. 1997. “Replicator II — Judgement Day”, in Biology and Philosophy, Vol. 12, No. 4, October 1997, pp. 471–492. [PDF]
Multimedia
Watch or listen to Richard C. Lewontin lecture on his conception of the relationship between genes, organisms and environments here.
Special Event (Wednesday 2 October)
Laurent Keller will give an Ecology and Evolutionary Biology colloquium talk, “Complex interactions between genes and social behavior modulate ant sociality”. The colloquium starts at 10:00am in Hutchison Hall 316.
Lecture Twenty Two (Wednesday 2 December)
Presentation
Jake
Primary Reading
Kitcher, Philip. 2000. “Battling the Undead: How (and How Not) to Resist Genetic Determinism”, in Rama Shankar Singh and Costas B. Krimbas and Diane B. Paul and John H. Beatty (Eds), Thinking about Evolution: Historical, Philosophical, and Political Perspectives, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2000, pp. 396–414. [PDF]
Secondary Reading
Oyama, Susan. 2000. “Causal Democracy and Causal Contributions in Developmental Systems Theory”, in Philosophy of Science, Vol. 67, Supplement, pp. S332–S347. [URI]
Griffiths, Paul E. 2006. “The Fearless Vampire Conservator: Philip Kitcher, Genetic Determinism and the Informational Gene”, in Eva M. Neumann-Held and Christoph Rehmann-Sutter (Eds), Genes in Development: Re-reading the Molecular Paradigm, Duke University Press, Durham, pp. 175–198. [URI]
Multimedia
Watch or listen to Stephen C. Stearns give an overview of the place of reaction norms in evolutionary theory here.
Lecture Twenty Three (Monday 7 December)
Presentation
Robert
Primary Reading
C. Kenneth Waters. 2007. “Causes that Make a Difference”, in Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 104, No. 11, November 2007, pp. 551–579. [PDF]
Secondary Reading
Woodward, James. 2006. “Sensitive and Insensitive Causation”, in The Philosophical Review, Vol. 115, No. 1, January 2006, pp. 1–50. [PDF]
Woodward, James. 2009. “Causation in Biology: Stability, Specificity, and the Choice of Levels of Explanation”. [URI]
Lecture Twenty Four (Wednesday 9 December)
Introductory Reading
Dawkins, Richard. 1998. “The “Information Challenge””, in The Skeptic, Vol. 18, No. 4, pp. 21–25. [PDF]
Reprinted in Pennock, Robert T (Ed). 2001. Intelligent Design Creationism and Its Critics: Philosophical, Theological and Scientific Perspectives, MIT Press, Cambridge MA, pp. 617–632 and Dawkins, Richard. 2003. A Devil's Chaplain: Reflections on Hope, Lies, Science, and Love, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, pp. 91–103.
Peter Godfrey-Smith. 2007. “Information in Biology”, in David L. Hull and Michael Ruse (Eds), The Cambridge Companion to the Philosophy of Biology, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2007, pp. 103–119. [PDF]
Primary Reading
Griffiths, Paul E. 2001. “Genetic Information: A Metaphor in Search of a Theory”, in Philosophy of Science, Vol. 68, No. 3, September 2001, pp. 394–412. [URI]
Secondary Reading
Smith, John Maynard. 2000b. “The Concept of Information in Biology”, in Philosophy of Science, Vol. 67, No. 2, June 2000, pp. 177–194. [URI]
Sterelny, Kim. 2000. “The “Genetic Program” Program: A Commentary on Maynard Smith on Information in Biology”, in Philosophy of Science, Vol. 67, No. 2, June 2000, pp. 195–201. [URI]
Peter Godfrey-Smith. 2000. “Information, Arbitrariness, and Selection: Comments on Maynard Smith”, in Philosophy of Science, Vol. 67, No. 2, June 2000, pp. 202–207. [URI]
Sahotra Sarkar. 2000. “Information in Genetics and Developmental Biology: Comments on Maynard Smith”, in Philosophy of Science, Vol. 67, No. 2, June 2000, pp. 208–213. [URI]
Smith, John Maynard. 2000a. “Reply to Commentaries”, in Philosophy of Science, Vol. 67, No. 2, June 2000, pp. 214–218. [URI]
Updated: 1 December 2009