Category Archives: Philosophy

Kant’s body and other natural disasters

Posted on July 9, 2011 by

This post is part of a series of occasional posts concerning the body and ecology.  I start somewhat circuitously by examining the body in the work of Kant. Friedrich Nietzsche, in tones braggadocio, prefaced his intellectual autobiography, Ecce Homo: How … Continue reading →

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Evolution quote: Sirks and Zirkle

Posted on April 25, 2011 by

Reposted from Evolving Thoughts At this point it might be well to insert a fact that has generally been overlooked by the historians of biology. The pre-evolutionary concept of species is generally given as a universally accepted view that species … Continue reading →

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Ich bin ein Gastblogger II: The wrong question

Posted on March 5, 2011 by

I’m an alien I’m a legal alien I’m an Englishman in Nürnberg Being an English historian of mathematics resident in Germany I have been often asked, over the years, by people who know a little about the history of mathematics, … Continue reading →

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Some Pierre Duhem Online

Posted on March 5, 2011 by

There’s actually quite a bit of Pierre Duhem’s work available online; but it is very scattered. A number are available through Google Books. One limitation of Google Books, of course, is that Google Books entries are not universally available; in … Continue reading →

Posted in Links, Philosophy, Physics | 1 Comment

What is systematics and what is taxonomy?

Posted on February 5, 2011 by

Over the past few years there have been increasing numbers of calls for governments to properly fund systematics and taxonomy (and a number of largely molecular-focused biologists insisting they can do the requisite tasks with magic molecule detectors, so don’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Biology, Biology, Epistemology, Evolution, General Science, History, Philosophy | 1 Comment

The Ibis in myth, science and palaeontology

Posted on January 6, 2011 by

“Every one has heard of the Ibis, the bird to which the ancient Egyptians paid religious worship; which they brought up in the interior of their temples, which they allowed to stray unharmed trough their cities, and whose murderer, even … Continue reading →

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The greatest show on Earth

Posted on December 30, 2010 by

In antiquity malformations on both men and animals were regarded as warnings from the gods, this old belief still today survives in the word “monster”, from the Latin verb “monere” – meaning “to warn”. Collected first in Cabinets of Curiosities, … Continue reading →

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Attacks on philosophy by scientists

Posted on December 30, 2010 by

Reposted from my home blog. Something that I never really fully understand is why academics feel the need to denigrate other academic disciplines. Just because one happens to think something is so worthwhile that they devoted their lives to it … Continue reading →

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How many species concepts are there?

Posted on October 21, 2010 by

I make an argument for everything from 27 to 0 at Grrlscientist’s blog at the Guardian.

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The utility of HPS

Posted on October 18, 2010 by

Over at The Bubble Chamber (blog of the University of Toronto Science Policy Working Group), Curtis Forbes asks “can history and philosophy of science be applied in socially relevant ways?”

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