Now on ScienceBlogs: The Galaxy's Biggest Valentine
One man's struggle against impermanence
John Wilkins is an eternal student, who thinks philosophy of biology is at least as interesting as politics or sport and twice as important. He has a PhD from the University of Melbourne and worked at the University of Queensland, in Australia, before taking up a research fellowship at the University of Sydney. After a varied career, involving factories, gardening, civil service, publishing, graphics, public relations but not, unfortunately for the CV, driving a truck, John finally completed his thesis on species concepts in 2004, which he has worked into two books.
This blog is designed evolved to host any random thoughts that happen to be passing through my forebrain at a given moment. So there will be errors...
I also have an Australia-focussed blog: The Drought Resistant Philosopher
The previous instantiation of this blog is accessible here.
July 31, 2006
Category: Philosophy of Science
I just want to start out saying 1. Everybody has been tagged with this one, and 2. These aren't really "memes", although these days I think that term is otiose. A meme spreads itself. Anyway, now I'm back from such...
Posted by John S. Wilkins at 7:56 PM • 15 Comments •
July 26, 2006
Category: Philosophy of Science
In which our hero discovers the joys of walking... Next on my trip, I visited David Williams, a paleobiologist at the Museum of Natural History in London. We talked at length about the nature of systematics (which is something...
Posted by John S. Wilkins at 3:21 PM • 20 Comments •
July 17, 2006
Category: Logic and philosophy
Designs are abstractions based on how we model things.
Posted by John S. Wilkins at 12:36 PM • 14 Comments •
Category: Administrative
So, some of you are wondering what's happened. Well, maybe one of you is. Hi mum. I went to the Philosophy of Microbiology conference at Exeter - somebody forgot to tell the English that it's supposed to be cold here....
Posted by John S. Wilkins at 12:16 PM • •
July 10, 2006
Category: Administrative
I am spatiotemporally challenged (it goes with my inability to remember names, even those of my kids. Birthdays are often a disappointment for them). However, I am fairly sure I will be overseas for the next three weeks. Overseas being...
Posted by John S. Wilkins at 6:00 PM • 3 Comments •
July 8, 2006
Category: Philosophy of Science
Rob Skipper has an excellent post at his blog entitled What Scientific Explanation Isn't. It's a good explanation of the DN (deductive nomological) model of explanation offered by Carl Hempel, which has come across some serious criticism of late. By...
Posted by John S. Wilkins at 6:53 AM • 5 Comments •
Category: Creationism
Media Matters has a wonderful bow by blow debuning of Ann Coulter's "Flatulent Raccoon Theory", better known as Godless: The Church of Liberalism. While I don't read the rabid blonde's droolings, it looks pretty good to me (apart from dating...
Posted by John S. Wilkins at 4:34 AM • •
July 7, 2006
Category: Philosophy of Science
I had a thought as I was recovering from my lack of sleep. What would you like me to cover? I have some forthcoming topics, but I thought you might like to suggest some philosophical issue with biology that interest...
Posted by John S. Wilkins at 4:02 AM • 10 Comments •
Category: Humor
Ha! While I was away, being humiliated and disparaged (and that was only my family), I get a mention in Nature. Well on their website, anyway, as one (#30) of the top fifty science blogs. Science education and reporting is...
Posted by John S. Wilkins at 12:44 AM • 2 Comments •
Category: Philosophy of Science
The question offered up to stump those ivory tower eggheads this week, is: On July 5, 1996, Dolly the sheep became the first successfully cloned mammal. Ten years on, has cloning developed the way you expected it to?... Pretty much....
Posted by John S. Wilkins at 12:16 AM • 1 Comments •
casaubon's book 02.13.2012
denialism blog 02.13.2012
respectful insolence 02.13.2012
evolutionblog 02.12.2012
starts with a bang! 02.11.2012
