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René Descartes 1596 - 1650
French Philosopher, Mathematician, Engineer, and Metaphysics -
Theory of Sense Perception
Descartes argued how the qualities of all objects are perceived through our thought and interaction with the natural world. He maintained the reasoning that objects properties are all measurable only through our perception of such things. Therefore, color is the reflection of light particles of the said object and not the actual object's property. Hatfield, Gary. "René Descartes." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford University, 16 Jan. 2014. Web. 9 Apr. 2017. -
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Charles Darwin 1809 - 1882
English Naturalist, biologist, and evolutionary scientist. -
Theory of Evolution 3
It still remains however, widely disputed on several grounds such as the permanence of species and predictable trending. Despite its many critics, philosophical problems, or complete empirical proof, the theory has stood up to the falsification test and until something is able to replace or confirm Darwin’s “On the Origins of Species” his survival of the fittest will remain the standing explanation on present-day biology. -
Theory of Evolution 2
He undermined the creationists with his points on species and how after enough time they may diverge from each other into new species continuing so on and so forth. Despite its philosophical problems the Theory has become regarded as revolutionary science leading to many tens of thousands of future studies having been conducted, built upon, and considered the new paradigm. -
Theory of Evolution 4
Lennox, James. "Darwinism." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford University, 26 May 2015. Web. 17 Apr. 2017. -
The Theory of Evolution
Darwin's Theory of Evolution or Darwinism has easily become one of the most widely known and accepted theories of the 21st centery. Giving way to the formerly accepted ideology on the beginning of life, creationism, Darwin caused great upheaval with his book, “On the Origins of Species”. His theory was at first greatly disregarded due to its incommensurability, such a difference in scientific viewpoints caused the community to be unable to change the current way of thinking. -
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Elliot Sober
Evolutionary and biological philosopher and professor of philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. -
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John Dupré
Scientific philosopher of biology with work relating to Darwinism. -
The Nature of Selection 3 of 4
Elliot was not against the idea of natural selection but rather iterated more in depth on how it should work in regards to evolutionary biology by way of the concept of cladistic parsimony. This idea stated how the shortest possible route which explains the information or data is typically considered the best.
Griffiths, Paul. "Philosophy of Biology." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 4 July 2008. Web. 16 May 2017. Section 3 -
The Nature of Selection 1 of 4
The theory of evolution from the Darwinian standpoint has been around for the last 168 years but it wasn’t until the last few decades that philosophers and scientists alike started to take a major idealistic change in the way they viewed evolution. -
The Nature of Selection 2 of 4
The generalized theory of evolution is and has been key to our understanding of the biological diversity but with the extensive research and writings of modern individuals such as Elliot Sober, the community has been able to address the finer details within the theory which remained enigmatic. -
The Nature of Selection 3 of 4
Sober spoke about these particulars by analyzing genetics and treating their change over time as being caused by several different forces rather than only one like Darwin’s natural selection through inheritable genetics. Elliot Sober believed that the genetic change came from mutation, genetic drift, and selection. -
Indeterministic Darwinian Evolution 2
Much like these two philosophical scientists, John Dupre puts forth the notion that science is and should be chaotic, more specifically his views regard that of evolutionary biology. “Evolution can’t give us detailed explanations for the countless features of organisms.” John Dupre continues to argue for the evolutionary gaps as being part of this disordered biological change, such as the lack of history showing the how the modern giraffe’s neck came to be. -
Indeterministic Darwinian Evolution 1
John Dupre is most famous for his philosophical outlook and ideology regarding the science behind biological evolution. His ideas portray science is such a way that it is not linear in nature and cannot always be reduced to the next lower level. Instead, his philosophy portrays much more closely to other scientists such as Karl Popper and Paul Feyerabend. -
Indeterministic Darwinian Evolution 3
Reductionism or the scientific approach that everything can be taken apart into smaller working mechanisms to show how the larger operates is just one of the ideas John Dupre argues against. His theories do not specifically eliminate the reductionism models but instead limits them to respectable places. These ideas greatly effect evolutions by showing how the extraordinary can explain changes while it is not always possible to reduce them to simply genomes. -
Indeterministic Darwinian Evolution 4
Dupré, John. N.p.: n.p., n.d. APU Library. Oxford University Press, 17 Mar. 2017. Web. 2 May 2017. Book authored by John Dupre showing his philosophical position regarding Darwinian Evolution and what it means today.
