Philosophy of Biology

By combining excerpts from key historical writings with editors’ introductions and further reading material, Philosophy of Biology: An Anthology offers a comprehensive, accessible, and up-to-date collection of the field’s most significant works.

• Addresses central questions such as ‘What is life?’ and ‘How did it begin?’, and the most current research and arguments on evolution and developmental biology
• Editorial notes throughout the text define, clarify, and qualify ideas, concepts and arguments
• Includes material on evolutionary psychology and evolutionary developmental biology not found in other standard philosophy of biology anthologies
• Further reading material assists novices in delving deeper into research in philosophy of biology

Personal Acknowledgments

Source Acknowledgments

General Introduction: A Short History of Philosophy of Biology: Alex Rosenberg and Robert Arp

Part I: Basic Principles and Proofs of Darwinism

Introduction

1. Struggle for Existence and Natural Selection: Charles Darwin

2. Evolution: Eugenie G. Scott

Part II: Evolution and Chance

Introduction

3. Beyond the Reach of Chance: Michael Denton

4. Accumulating Small Change: Richard Dawkins

5. Chance and Natural Selection: John Beatty

6. The Principle of Drift: Biology’s First Law: Robert N. Brandon

Part III: The Tautology Problem

Introduction

7. Darwin’s Untimely Burial: Stephen Jay Gould

8. Adaptation and Evolutionary Theory: Robert N. Brandon

Part IV: Adaptationism

Introduction

9. The Spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian Paradigm: A Critique of the Adaptationist Programme: Stephen Jay Gould and Richard C. Lewontin

10. How to Carry Out the Adaptationist Program?: Ernst Mayr

Part V: Biological Function and Teleology

Introduction

11. The Modern Philosophical Resurrection of Teleology: Mark Perlman

12. Neo-Teleology: Robert Cummins

13. A Modern History Theory of Functions: Peter Godfrey-Smith

Part VI: Evolutionary Developmental Biology

Introduction

14. Endless Forms: The Evolution of Gene Regulation and Morphological Diversity: Sean B. Carroll

15. Functional Evo-devo: Casper J. Breuker, Vincent Debat, and Christian Peter Klingenberg

Part VII: Reductionism and the Biological Sciences

Introduction

16. 1953 and All That: A Tale of Two Sciences: Philip Kitcher

17. The Multiple Realizability Argument against Reductionism: Elliott Sober

Part VIII: Species and Classification Problems

Introduction

18. Species, Taxonomy, and Systematics: Marc Ereshefsky

19. Spec;iation: A Catalogue and Critique of Species Concepts: Jerry A. Coyne and H. Allen Orr

Part IX: The Units of Selection Debate

Introduction

20. Artifact, Cause, and Genic Selection: Elliott Sober and Richard C. Lewontin

21. The Return of the Gene: Kim Sterelny and Philip Kitcher

22. The Levels of Selection Debate: Philosophical Issues: Samir Okasha

Part X: Sociobiology and Ethics

Introduction

23. Sociobiology: The New Synthesis: Edward O. Wilson

24. The Evolution of Cooperation: Robert Axelrod and William D. Hamilton

25. Darwinism in Moral Philosophy and Social Theory: Alex Rosenberg

Part XI: Evolutionary Psychology Introduction

26. Conceptual Foundations of Evolutionary Psychology: John Tooby and Leda Cosmides

27. The Environments of Our Hominin Ancestors, Tool-usage, and Scenario Visualization: Robert Arp

Part XII: Design and Creationism

Introduction

28. Science and Creationism: Donald Prothero

29. Irreducible Complexity: Obstacle to Darwinian Evolution: Michael J. Behe

30. The Flagellum Unspun: The Collapse of "Irreducible Complexity": Kenneth R. Miller

"Nevertheless, this new anthology is a useful addition to the existing collection of building blocks from which introductory courses in philosophy of biology are constructed." (Acta Biotheor, 1 June 2013)

"Philosophy of Biology: An Anthology has selections that make it easy to teach evolutionary theory, clear up common misconceptions, and introduce students to genuinely important philosophical problems." (Science & Education, 2010)

Alex Rosenberg is the R. Taylor Cole Professor of Philosophy, Professor of Biology and Director of the Center for Philosophy of Biology at Duke University. He has published 11 books on the philosophy of science including The Philosophy of Biology: A Contemporary Introduction (2007) with Daniel McShea. In 1993, he won the Lakatos Prize in the Philosophy of Science and in 2007 was the National Phi Beta Kappa Rommell lecturer in philosophy.

Robert Arp is Research Associate with the National Center for Biomedical Ontology at the University of Buffalo and works with the Ontology Research Group at the New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics & Life Sciences in Buffalo, New York. A PhD in Philosophy from Saint Louis University, he has published in the areas of philosophy of biology, philosophy of mind, and biomedical ontology.

Rapid biological advances and new standards of philosophical rigor are casting age-old questions about the nature and methodology of the biological sciences in a dramatic new light. Philosophy of Biology: An Anthology offers a comprehensive and up-to-date collection of the field’s most significant works. The text is organized to provide readers at all levels with a thorough grounding in the general history, philosophy, and science behind debates that remain at the heart of the philosophy of biology. Addressing the field’s central issues, sections draw on works relating to Darwinism and its influence on the biological sciences, evolution and chance, the unit of selection debate, adaptationism, evolutionary psychology, and the burgeoning science of evolutionary developmental biology, to name just a few. Editors’ introductions and further reading material throughout the text – combined with the readings themselves – provide novices with a solid basis on which to pursue further research in philosophy of biology.

Comprehensive in scope, Philosophy of Biology: An Anthology offers readers an accessible gateway into a field of study that holds the most crucial insights and implications into our understanding of the nature and methodology of the biological sciences.

"This excellent anthology covers a wide range of biological disciplines and controversies. It demonstrates the great value of reflective philosophical analysis in interpreting biology and its claims about human nature. It is ideal for use in introductory courses in philosophy of biology."
—Richard Burian, Virginia Tech

"Philosophy of Biology: An Anthology is a splendid collection of papers dedicated to the current issues in the philosophy of biology. The book is organized around twelve major topics, with at least two papers for each topic, expressing contrasting views as appropriate, and all written by leading experts. This book will serve well as a text for courses in the philosophy of biology, and as supplementary reading in philosophy of science and other classes."
—Francisco J. Ayala, University of California, Irvine