Philosophy of Biology
Alkistis Elliott-Graves
Philosophy of Biology (Cultural Evolution, Adaptationism)
Philosophy of Science
Philosophy of the Social Sciences
MSc Philosophy of the Social Sciences, London School of Economics and Political Science
B.A. European Social and Political Studies, University College London
"Why early humans did not think deductively", ISHPSSB 2009 Brisbane
Karen Detlefsen
I am currently working on a project on the relation between the life sciences and metaphysics in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Specifically, I am tracing the evolution of the concepts of mechanism, teleology, individuation, and laws in the metaphysics of Descartes, Malebranche, Leibniz, Albrecht von Haller, and Caspar Friedrich Wolff as each tries to explain the generation of new organisms. I am also working on a number of papers on early modern women philosophers, including Margaret Cavendish, Anne Conway, Mary Astell, and Émilie Du Châtelet. These will culminate in three larger projects: one on Cavendish's natural philosophy, its relation to her implicit political philosophy, and the conceptual relation between her philosophy and that of Hobbes and Spinoza; a second on Du Châtelet's natural philosophy, its conceptual relation to the work of Leibniz and Newton, and her historical role in the emergence of modern science near the end of the eighteenth century; and a third using the works of early modern women philosophers as a prism through which to examine questions in the historiography of philosophy. I have teaching interests in the Philosophy of Education, and will eventually conduct research on early modern educational theories, including an investigation of theories of women's education in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
“Explanation and Demonstration in the Wolff-Haller Debate Surrounding Generation.” In The Problem of Generation in Early Modern Philosophy: From Descartes to Kant, edited by Justin Smith. Series: Cambridge Studies in Philosophy and Biology (2006).
“Atomism, Monism, and Causation in Margaret Cavendish's Natural Philosophy.” Oxford Studies in Early Modern Philosophy. Vol. 3, 2005.
“Supernaturalism, Occasionalism, and Preformation in Malebranche.” Perspectives on Science, 11 (4), Winter 2003, pp. 443-483.
“Diversity and the Individual in Dewey's Philosophy of Democratic Education.'' Educational Theory, 48 (3), Summer 1998, pp. 309-329
Michael Weisberg
My primary research concerns the philosophical issues surrounding the scientific method. Specifically, I am interested in the construction, development, and analysis of theories and models in computationally complex sciences such as population biology and chemistry. I pursue these interests in a variety of projects spanning traditional as well as novel areas in philosophy of science, including philosophy of biology, philosophy of chemistry, and the social structure of science.
