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Articles 1 - 30 of 54
Full-Text Articles in Philosophy of Science
Confronting Language, Representation, And Belief: A Limited Defense Of Mental Continuity, Kristin Andrews, Ljiljana Radenovic
Confronting Language, Representation, And Belief: A Limited Defense Of Mental Continuity, Kristin Andrews, Ljiljana Radenovic
Kristin Andrews, PhD
According to the mental continuity claim (MCC), human mental faculties are physical and beneficial to human survival, so they must have evolved gradually from ancestral forms and we should expect to see their precursors across species. Materialism of mind coupled with Darwin’s evolutionary theory leads directly to such claims and even today arguments for animal mental properties are often presented with the MCC as a premise. However, the MCC has been often challenged among contemporary scholars. It is usually argued that only humans use language and that language as such has no precursors in the animal kingdom. Moreover, language is …
Hypothesis Generation And Testing: A Template For Biomedical Research, Michael Hoffmann
Hypothesis Generation And Testing: A Template For Biomedical Research, Michael Hoffmann
Michael H.G. Hoffmann
This argument map provides a template for the testing of hypotheses in biomedical research. It can be used in science education to direct students' attention to all components that need to be clarified to justify a scientific hypothesis in a specific experimental setting, including the justification of appropriate sample sizes in experiments, determination of background theories, description of experimental design, data collection methods, significance level, etc. To use this template, go to http://agora.gatech.edu/, search for argument map 3363, and copy the map.
A Healthy Mania For The Macabre, Stephen Asma
A Healthy Mania For The Macabre, Stephen Asma
Stephen T Asma
The article discusses the fascination with death in art in response to several exhibits which display preserved human bodies, such as the "Body Worlds" traveling exhibit which features human bodies preserved with silicon after an acetone bath, a technique discovered by medical scientist Gunther von Hagens. The author looks at human curiosity with morbidity and artists such as Damien Hirst that use it as the focus of their work. Topics include comments by Richard Harris, creator of "Morbid Curiosity" exhibition in Chicago, Illinois, art historian Paul Koudounaris, and the beauty of death and morbidity according to New York artist and …
The Mirage Of A Space Between Nature And Nurture By Evelyn Fox Keller (Review), David Depew
The Mirage Of A Space Between Nature And Nurture By Evelyn Fox Keller (Review), David Depew
David J Depew
No abstract provided.
Clay Fabric And Mass Physical Properties Of Surficial Marine Sediment Near The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Andrew Head, Richard H. Bennett, Jessica R. Douglas, Kenneth J. Curry
Clay Fabric And Mass Physical Properties Of Surficial Marine Sediment Near The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Andrew Head, Richard H. Bennett, Jessica R. Douglas, Kenneth J. Curry
Kenneth J. Curry
Surficial sediment was obtained on the RV Cape Hatteras Cruise (2010) from the seafloor at a water depth of 1570 meters located at latitude 28°44'20.16"N and longitude 88°20'24.96"W in close proximity to the Deepwater Horizon well, Gulf of Mexico. Preliminary clay nano- and microfabric observation using a transmission electron microscope (TEM) depicted a sediment rich in clays and organic matter (OM) especially in the upper 2 cm subbottom. Initial analysis of TEM micrographs depicted a high porosity clay sediment. Initial study of the mass physical properties revealed water content ωt = 67.32 – 67.28% (percent total mass), porosity n= 84.1 …
Affective Neuroscience And The Philosophy Of Self, Stephen Asma
Affective Neuroscience And The Philosophy Of Self, Stephen Asma
Stephen T Asma
The nature of self awareness and the origin and persistence of personal identity still loom large in contemporary philosophy of mind. Many philosophers have been wooed by the computational approach to consciousness, and they attempt to find the self amidst the phenomenon of neocortical information processing. Affective neuroscience offers another pathway to understanding the evolution and nature of self. This paper explores how affective neuroscience acts as a positive game-changer in the philosophical pursuit of self. In particular, we focus on connecting 'mammalian agency' to (a) subjective awareness, and (b) identity through time.
Gauging Gender: A Metaphysics, Stephen Asma
Gauging Gender: A Metaphysics, Stephen Asma
Stephen T Asma
In this article the author discusses sex and gender in human beings and examines how the study of science, particularly biology, has influenced the study of these subjects in higher education. It traces the evolution of sex and gender studies in academe, comments on the failure of many humanities scholars to dismiss biology in studying human behavior, and explores ways in which psychoanalysis, social constructionism, and metaphysics have informed the debate over the differences between sex and gender. Other topics include research conducted by Anne Fausto-Sterling regarding intersexed people, scientific tests focusing on sexual preference in rats, and thoughts by …
Risen Apes And Fallen Angels: The New Museology Of Human Origins, Stephen Asma
Risen Apes And Fallen Angels: The New Museology Of Human Origins, Stephen Asma
Stephen T Asma
There has been a little explosion of "origin" exhibitions in the past few years. The recent bicentennial of Darwin's birth, in 2009, ushered in a bevy of traveling exhibitions and events. Grandscale permanent exhibitions have recently opened at the American Museum of Natural History (the Spitzer Hall of Human Origins) in New York, and the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History (the David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins) in Washington, D.C. A new museology is afoot, and some of the recent changes are worth tracking. And let's not forget the recently opened Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky. Even in …
Adaptation As Process: The Future Of Darwinism And The Legacy Of Theodosius Dobzhansky, David Depew
Adaptation As Process: The Future Of Darwinism And The Legacy Of Theodosius Dobzhansky, David Depew
David J Depew
Conceptions of adaptation have varied in the history of genetic Darwinism depending on whether what is taken to be focal is the process of adaptation, adapted states of populations, or discrete adaptations in individual organisms. I argue that Theodosius Dobzhansky’s view of adaptation as a dynamical process contrasts with so-called “adaptationist” views of natural selection figured as “design-without-a-designer” of relatively discrete, enumerable adaptations. Correlated with these respectively process and product oriented approaches to adaptive natural selection are divergent pictures of organisms themselves as developmental wholes or as “bundles” of adaptations. While even process versions of genetical Darwinism are insufficiently sensitive …
Rethinking Mechanistic Explanation, Stuart Glennan
Rethinking Mechanistic Explanation, Stuart Glennan
Stuart Glennan
Philosophers of science typically associate the causal-mechanical view of scientific explanation with the work of Railton and Salmon. In this paper I shall argue that the defects of this view arise from an inadequate analysis of the concept of mechanism. I contrast Salmon's account of mechanisms in terms of the causal nexus with my own account of mechanisms, in which mechanisms are viewed as complex systems. After describing these two concepts of mechanism, I show how the complex-systems approach avoids certain objections to Salmon's account of causal-mechanical explanation. I conclude by discussing how mechanistic explanations can provide understanding by unification.
Coerced Confessional, Miracle Exoneration: The Case Of Ex-Monster Jerry Hobbs, Stephen Asma
Coerced Confessional, Miracle Exoneration: The Case Of Ex-Monster Jerry Hobbs, Stephen Asma
Stephen T Asma
No abstract provided.
The New Atheists' Narrow World-View, Stephen Asma
The New Atheists' Narrow World-View, Stephen Asma
Stephen T Asma
The article discusses atheism, Buddhism, and the practice of animism in southeast Asia. Atheists such as Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris are discussed as is the argument regarding the "provincialism" of religion. It is noted that some atheists echo the statement by philosopher Karl Marx that religion is an opiate that should be done away with because it has little moral value. The use of spirit houses as a part of religious practice in southeast Asia is described. The opinion held by theists on animism is explored. Other topics include living conditions in Cambodia and the role of religion in …
Mariska Leunissen, Explanation And Teleology In Aristotle’S Science Of Nature, David J. Depew
Mariska Leunissen, Explanation And Teleology In Aristotle’S Science Of Nature, David J. Depew
David J Depew
No abstract provided.
What We Talk About When We Talk About The Soul, Stephen Asma
What We Talk About When We Talk About The Soul, Stephen Asma
Stephen T Asma
The author discusses the popularity among college students of the concept of the soul, and attempts to place it in its proper context. He dispenses with orthodox theological arguments and New Age arguments as scientifically untenable. He takes a so-called Wittgensteinian approach, noting soul's linguistic significance. He analyzes expressions which use the concept of soul and concludes that they are qualitatively different from testable factual expressions. He notes that soul talk is about hopes and aspirations, inspiration, or feelings deeper than friendship. He assigns it meaning outside of scientific concepts. He likens expressions of soul to creative and ethical acts, …
Rethinking Mechanistic Explanation, Stuart Glennan
Rethinking Mechanistic Explanation, Stuart Glennan
Stuart Glennan
Philosophers of science typically associate the causal-mechanical view of scientific explanation with the work of Railton and Salmon. In this paper I shall argue that the defects of this view arise from an inadequate analysis of the concept of mechanism. I contrast Salmon's account of mechanisms in terms of the causal nexus with my own account of mechanisms, in which mechanisms are viewed as complex systems. After describing these two concepts of mechanism, I show how the complex-systems approach avoids certain objections to Salmon's account of causal-mechanical explanation. I conclude by discussing how mechanistic explanations can provide understanding by unification.
Green Guilt, Stephen Asma
Green Guilt, Stephen Asma
Stephen T Asma
The essay discusses the more neurotic aspects of environmentalism, involving guilt over failure to recycle or turn off the lights. It notes that those most prone to these sensibilities are those who have left traditional religion. It quotes philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche who states that religious emotions such as guilt and indignation are still present in a post-Christian world. The essay argues that we should certainly save the planet but avoid the neurosis that often accompanies it.
Darwinian Controversies: An Historiographical Recounting, David Depew
Darwinian Controversies: An Historiographical Recounting, David Depew
David J Depew
This essay reviews key controversies in the history of the Darwinian research tradition: the Wilberforce-Huxley debate in 1860, early twentieth-century debates about the heritability of acquired characteristics and the consistency of Mendelian genetics with natural selection; the 1925 Scopes trial about teaching evolution; tensions about race, culture, and eugenics at the 1959 centenary celebration Darwin’s Origin of Species; adaptationism and its critics in the Sociobiology debate of 1970s and, more recently, Evolutionary Psychology; and current disputes about Intelligent Design. These controversies, I argue, are etched into public memory because they occur at the emotionally charged boundaries between public-political, technical-scientific, and …
Is Evolutionary Biology Infected With Invalid Teleological Reasoning? Invited Review Essay Of John Reiss, Retiring Darwin’S Watchmaker., David Depew
David J Depew
No abstract provided.
Monsters And The Moral Imagination, Stephen Asma
Monsters And The Moral Imagination, Stephen Asma
Stephen T Asma
The article discusses the cultural interest in monsters in the 21st century. The author speculates on the reasons for the interest, citing anxiety after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the war in Iraq, or the global financial crisis of 2008-2009. He notes a conference in September 2009 at the University of Oxford entitled "Monsters and the Monstrous." Cultural uses of monsters, he notes, include scolding ourselves for failure to be inclusive, the medievals' punishment for the sin of pride, or the ancient Greeks' warnings of impending calamity. He notes that monster stories can promote the individual's thought about what …
Ancient Antidotes To Timeless Troubles: Stoicism And The Recession, Stephen Asma
Ancient Antidotes To Timeless Troubles: Stoicism And The Recession, Stephen Asma
Stephen T Asma
The article reviews the books "The Present Alone is Our Happiness," by Arnold I. Davidson and Jeannie Carlier and "A Life Worthy of the Gods: The Materialist Psychology of Epicurus" by David Konstan.
Happy Serf Liberation Day: China And Tibet, Stephen Asma
Happy Serf Liberation Day: China And Tibet, Stephen Asma
Stephen T Asma
No abstract provided.
Paul Crook, Darwin’S Coat-Tails. Essays On Social Darwinism., David Depew
Paul Crook, Darwin’S Coat-Tails. Essays On Social Darwinism., David Depew
David J Depew
No abstract provided.
Trapped In The Creation Museum, Stephen Asma
Trapped In The Creation Museum, Stephen Asma
Stephen T Asma
Into the swampy debate over evolution has waded the new Creation Museum, in Petersburg, Ky. In an America divided between those who accept Darwin's theories and those who believe God created the world in six days, it seeks to win moderates and compromisers over to its side. Shortly after the museum opened last spring, I made a pilgrimage to witness this quirky new spectacle of Americana...
David Sedley, Creationism And Its Critics In Antiquity, David Depew
David Sedley, Creationism And Its Critics In Antiquity, David Depew
David J Depew
No abstract provided.
Never Mind Grendel! Can Beowulf Conquer The 21st-Century Guilt Trip?, Stephen Asma
Never Mind Grendel! Can Beowulf Conquer The 21st-Century Guilt Trip?, Stephen Asma
Stephen T Asma
The writer casts doubt on whether the emasculated Beowulf put forward by J. R. R. Tolkien and in the recent movie version of the story transcends and nullifies the heroic original. He suggests that both Beowulfs may be necessary.
Looking Up From The Gutter: Pop-Culture And Philosophy, Stephen Asma
Looking Up From The Gutter: Pop-Culture And Philosophy, Stephen Asma
Stephen T Asma
No abstract provided.
How To Survive The Apocalypse, Stephen Asma
How To Survive The Apocalypse, Stephen Asma
Stephen T Asma
The article presents a guide on how people with skepticism and critical thinking can survive the Rapture and Armageddon. According to the Book of Revelations, the Lord will return to the earth to separate the good and the bad. When the Great Tribulation comes, people have no more time for repentance. The impostor strategy is one way to avoid the Tribulation.
Dinosaurs On The Ark: Natural History And The New Evangelical Museum, Stephen Asma
Dinosaurs On The Ark: Natural History And The New Evangelical Museum, Stephen Asma
Stephen T Asma
This article examines the Creation Museum in Kentucky. Featured at the museum is a replica of Noah's Ark. The author notes that there is some fudging going on to fit all the supposedly transported animals in such a small vessel. According to the museum, the Grand Canyon was not millions of years in the making but appeared after the flood. The evangelical museum is an offshoot of the Answers in Genesis ministry. Ken A. Ham is the director of the museum as well as the head of the ministry. He says that the notion of evolution has done more harm …
Holy Toyland, Stephen Asma
Solomon's House, Stephen Asma
Solomon's House, Stephen Asma
Stephen T Asma
The article discusses the author's experience of touring the Creation Museum in Kentucky, which was opened in May 2007. He met the museum's director Ken A. Ham, and asked him various questions about the art exhibits. He inquired about the capacity of Noah's ark to carry all pairs of animals in it, and notes that the museum is scaling back the universe. He also shared that the biggest challenge facing the museum is making people see the difference in using the present method and one's belief.