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Articles 1 - 6 of 6
Full-Text Articles in Philosophy of Science
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.
On Blushing, Lee T. Nutini
On Blushing, Lee T. Nutini
Lee T Nutini
Guided by Darwin's writing, an intensive look at one of the most interesting and inexplicable phenomenons of human emotion.
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.