You are hereSex and Death: An Introduction to Philosophy of BiologyChicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999. 456 pages. "The results of the biological sciences are of obvious interest to philosophers because they seem to tell us what we are, how we came to be, and how we relate to the rest of the natural world." Thus Sterelny and Griffiths begin their lucid, lively, and comprehensive introductory text. Conceptual Issues in Evolutionary Biology, second editionCambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1993. 526 pages. Commenting on the first edition of Elliott Sober's anthology on the philosophy of biology, Richard C. Lewontin wrote, "I can think of no one better qualified to put together a book on the subject. The Philosophy of BiologyNew York: Oxford University Press, 1998. 784 pages. From the publisher: "Drawing on work of the past decade, this volume brings together articles from the philosophy, history, and sociology of science, and many other branches of the biological sciences. The volume delves into the latest theoretical controversies as well as burning questions of contemporary social importance. Philosophy of BiologyAmherst, NY: Libri, 1998. 360 pages. The topics addressed in Ruse's anthology are what is life?, explaining design, Darwinism and the tautology problem, the challenge of punctuated equilibrium, problems of classification, teleology: help or hindrance?, molecular biology, the recombinant DNA debate, human sociobiology, extraterrestrials?, evolution and ethics, God and biology, and cloning. The selections include classic discussions by Aristotle, Paley, and Darwin and up-to-the-minute articles by Arthur L. Caplan, Stephen Jay Gould, and E.O. Wilson. Ruse, a Supporter of NCSE, is the Lucyle T. Human Nature after DarwinLondon: Routledge, 2001. 336 pages. "It is difficult," Janet Radcliffe Richards acknowledges, "to know whether to count [Human Nature after Darwin] as a substantive thesis about the implications of Darwinism with a subsidiary methodological thesis, or a Darwinian introduction to philosophy." Either way, her book is a clear and lively introduction to the debates surrounding the philosophical implications — real and supposed — of evolutionary biology. Taking Darwin Seriously, second editionAmherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 1998. 332 pages. "I do not know if Taking Darwin Seriously is my best or most important book," Ruse writes in the preface to the second edition (1998), "but I do know that it is my most personal and the one which in respects means the most to me." In it, he attempts to "work out a full and satisfying position on the basic questions of epistemology (theory of knowledge) and ethics (theory of morality)" in the light of evolution. Darwin and DesignCambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2004. 384 pages. Writing in BioScience, NCSE's Eugenie C. Scott and Glenn Branch comment, "For a truly synoptic view of the intellectual backdrop, Michael Ruse's Darwin and Design (2003) — the final volume in a trilogy containing Monad to Man (1996) and Mystery of Mysteries (1999) — is just the ticket. Ruse explains in exhilarating detail how the attempts to explain the apparent design of the biological world have shaped the history of biology from Plato and Aristotle to the present day. Vaulting Ambition: Sociobiology and the Quest for Human NatureCambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1987. 470 pages. Published in 1985, Vaulting Ambition sought to "explain as clearly as possible what sociobiology is, how it relates to evolutionary theory, and how the ambitious claims that have attracted so much public attention rest on shoddy analysis and flimsy arguments." While acknowledging the scientific contributions of sociobiology, Kitcher, a philosopher of science (and Supporter of NCSE), castigated what he called "pop" sociobiology for a lack of evidential and theoretical rigor. The Poverty of the Linnaean HierarchyCambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2001. 316 pages. In The Poverty of the Linnaean Hierarchy, Marc Ereshefsky, a professor of philosophy at the University of Calgary, offers a survey of competing philosophies of classification, articulates and defends a form of pluralism with regard to species concepts, and argues that the Linnaean system ought to be abandoned in favor of a post-Linnaean, rank-free, phylogenetic taxonomy (like PhyloCode, with a few differences). The Units of Evolution: Essays on the Nature of SpeciesCambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1991. 426 pages. From the publisher: "The Units of Evolution [published in 1991] is the first anthology devoted solely to the nature of species, one of the most hotly debated issues in biology and the philosophy of biology. The anthology is evenly balanced between biological and philosophical issues, making it equally useful for workers in both fields. Pages
|
Search
Can't find the book you're looking for? Support NCSE by making purchases with the links below. 
NCSE T-shirts 
Project Steve t-shirts can now be ordered online at the NCSE Store.
Voices for Evolution Staff Publications  by Eugenie C. Scott  edited by Eugenie C. Scott and Glenn Branch  by Peter M. J. Hess and Paul L. Allen |
