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Ph.D
John Dupre earned his Ph.D at Cambrige in 1981 -
The Disorder of Things and Scientific Pluralism
Dupré wrote The Disorder of Things, seen as an example of Scientific Pluralism. It is a more modern advancement as a feature of a post-positivist philosophy of science that comes from the frustration of the overwhelming number of practices throughout a kaleidoscope of scientific paradigms saying that there is not a universal scientific method or fundamental ontology, and that science requires epistemic and social diversity. Other pluralists include Nancy Cartwright, Ian Hacking, and John Dewey. -
1998
Returned to the UK as Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck College, University of London; and Senior Research Fellow at Exeter, where he reintroduced philosophy. -
Darwin’s Legacy: What Evolution Means Today
In this book, Dupré talks about the importance of evolution described by Darwin and how it applies to humanity. It describes the intellectual benefits over practical (since evolutionary timescales tend to be greater than a human life), the evolutionary differences in human society compared to those found in nature (such as language as a complex means of communication), and the differences between race in sociology and in biology regarding humanity. -
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2011-2013
President of the British Society for the Philosophy of Science -
Metaphysics of Evolution
In 2017, John Dupré wrote the paper, Metaphysics of Evolution. It argues that metaphysics (as an abstract, general description of reality) is better for describing life and conceptualizing evolution. The question the paper is concerned with is whether the world is composed of things or a flux of patterns and processes. Arguments range from the process of evolution being external to the organism, to species-as-individual process, and to species as a stabilized process. -
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2019-2022
Vice President, President, and President Elect of the Philosophy of Science Association -
Educational Videos
Below are links/titles to two videos released in 2020 (What is reality | Subir Sarkar, John Dupré, Nancy Cartwright) and 2021 [Why Philosophy of Biology? (John Dupre)]. The first has Dupré discussing reality with colleagues including pluralist philosopher Nancy Cartwright. The second shows Dupré discussing his field of the philosophy of biology. What is Reality? | Subir Sarkar, John Dupré, Nancy Cartwright - YouTube Why Philosophy of Biology? (John Dupre) - YouTube -
Citation 1
Dupré, John. “The metaphysics of evolution.” Interface focus vol. 7,5 (2017): 20160148. doi:10.1098/rsfs.2016.0148 Ludwig, David and Stéphanie Ruphy, "Scientific Pluralism", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2021 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2021/entries/scientific-pluralism/. -
Citation2
Dupré, John. “Darwin’s Legacy What Evolution Means Today”. Oxford University Press, 2003.< ProQuest Ebook Central - Reader> Dupre, John. “Overview”. University of Exeter Sociology, Philosophy, and Anthropology, URL=https://sociology.exeter.ac.uk/staff/dupre/