swoodill

Sexual Fluidity

This book has two basic points: 1. Women’s sexuality is markedly different from male sexuality 2. Women’s sexuality, although likely grounded in an actual biological orientation, is highly susceptible to context and culture and is not fixed but fluid This books traverses a wide terrain of sexuality studies in a thorough and critical manner. AlthoughContinue reading “Sexual Fluidity”

Anthropomorphism

Anthropomorphism, primatomorphism, mammalomorphism: understanding cross-species comparisons BRIAN L. KEELEY Biology and Philosophy 19: 521–540, 2004. In this article, the author argues that the “sin” of anthropomorphism is rooted in an outdated theological tradition that equated describing God in terms of human qualities to a blasphemous act that reduced God to mere mortal and elided hisContinue reading “Anthropomorphism”

Universal Darwinism

Dawkins, Richard. “Universal Darwinism.” Philosophy of Biology eds. Hull & Ruse, London: Oxford, 1998 Basic point of this paper is to argue that darwinism is approximately a universal maxim. In other words, it will work well anywhere. Dawkins reviews seven different evolution theories, points out their strengths and weaknesses in order to show that indeedContinue reading “Universal Darwinism”

Intelligent Design

Johnson, Phillip “Evolution as Dogma.” Intelligent Design Creationism and Its Critics Ed. Robert Pennock. Boston: MIT Press, 2001. This article covers some basic tenets of the Intelligent Design perspective. Micro-evolution, or the development and modifications of species, is not denied. The objection is with macro-evolution, or the extrapolation of the micro-evolution to the broad andContinue reading “Intelligent Design”

Evolution–Levels of Selection

Sober, Elliot and David Sloan Wilson. “A Critical Review of Philosophical Work on the Units of Selection Problem.” Philosophy of Science, 62:4 (1994), p. 534-55. As the title suggests, this article reviews the debate over the level of selection in the evolutionary process. More specifically, it reviews the specific questions of evolutionary altruism—a phenomenon inContinue reading “Evolution–Levels of Selection”

Evolution-Level of Selection

Sterelny, Kim and Philip Kitcher. “The Return of the Gene.” The Journal of Philosophy 85:7 (1988), p339-61. This article reviews two versions of natural selection: natural selection as a process of survival and reproduction of individual organisms and the other, proposed by Dawkins natural selection at the genetic level, with replicators and active germ-line replicators.Continue reading “Evolution-Level of Selection”

Evolution

Six Sayings About Adaptationism Elliot Sober (full reference coming shortly) This article sets out the discussion of adaptationism as a universal evolutionary law analogous to Newtonian physics as a framework for investigating various points of contention within the evolutionary discipline. If the analogy is true, then barring the intrusions of other possible forces, natural selectionContinue reading “Evolution”