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Full-Text Articles in Philosophy of Science

Confronting Language, Representation, And Belief: A Limited Defense Of Mental Continuity, Kristin Andrews, Ljiljana Radenovic Apr 2015

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 Dec 2014

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.


Rethinking Mechanistic Explanation, Stuart Glennan Feb 2011

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.


Mariska Leunissen, Explanation And Teleology In Aristotle’S Science Of Nature, David J. Depew Dec 2010

Mariska Leunissen, Explanation And Teleology In Aristotle’S Science Of Nature, David J. Depew

David J Depew

No abstract provided.


Rethinking Mechanistic Explanation, Stuart Glennan Apr 2010

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.


Is Evolutionary Biology Infected With Invalid Teleological Reasoning? Invited Review Essay Of John Reiss, Retiring Darwin’S Watchmaker., David Depew Dec 2009

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.


Bert Bender, Evolution And The Sex Problem (Review), David Depew Feb 2006

Bert Bender, Evolution And The Sex Problem (Review), David Depew

David J Depew

No abstract provided.


Darwinisms’S Multiple Ontologies, David J. Depew Dec 2004

Darwinisms’S Multiple Ontologies, David J. Depew

David J Depew

No abstract provided.


[James Mark] Baldwin And His Many Effects, David Depew Dec 2002

[James Mark] Baldwin And His Many Effects, David Depew

David J Depew

No abstract provided.


Protecting Evolutionary Theory From Bad Company: J. Strick, Sparks Of Life: Darwinism And The Victorian Debates Over Spontaneous Generation (Review), David J. Depew Dec 2002

Protecting Evolutionary Theory From Bad Company: J. Strick, Sparks Of Life: Darwinism And The Victorian Debates Over Spontaneous Generation (Review), David J. Depew

David J Depew

No abstract provided.


Intelligent Design And Irreducible Complexity, David Depew Dec 1997

Intelligent Design And Irreducible Complexity, David Depew

David J Depew

No abstract provided.


Natural Selection And Self-Organization: Dynamical Models As Clues To A New Evolutionary Synthesis, Bruce Weber, David Depew Dec 1995

Natural Selection And Self-Organization: Dynamical Models As Clues To A New Evolutionary Synthesis, Bruce Weber, David Depew

David J Depew

The Darwinian concept of natural selection was conceived within a set of Newtonianbackground assumptions about systems dynamics. Mendelian genetics at first did not sit well with the gradualist assumptions of the Darwinian theory. Eventually, however. Mendelism and Darwinism were fused by reformulating natural selection in statistical terms. This reflected a shift to a more probabilistic set of background assumptions based upon Boltzmannian systems dynamics. Recent developments in molecular genetics and paleontology have put pressure on Darwinism once again. Current work on self-organizing systems may provide a stimulus not only for increased problem solving within the Darwinian tradition, especially with respect …