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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.
October 30, 2006
Category: Administrative
So, I'm packing for the PSA/HSS conference in Vancouver, where I will be drinkingworking with other philosophers and historians, and meeting the Sciblings. Then to Seattle, where I will be shown the sights by Josh Hayes and others. Thence to...
Posted by John S. Wilkins at 6:40 PM • 3 Comments •
October 29, 2006
Category: Politics
The conservative government of John Howard is proposing to offer $20,000 to any school to employ a "religious person" as a chaplain for students. This isn't blurring the line of separation between church and state, he says. It's just "common...
Posted by John S. Wilkins at 11:18 PM • 14 Comments •
October 28, 2006
Category: Philosophy of Science
Courtesy of Mixing Memory comes the announcement of a conference at AlphaPsy on methodology and the social sciences, which raises an interesting thought. Is the use of scientific methodology and the naturalising of the social sciences a threat to those...
Posted by John S. Wilkins at 7:33 PM • 4 Comments •
Category: Biodiversity
This week's Ask a Science Blogger is What's the most underfunded scientific field that shouldn't be underfunded? In my view, it is taxonomy. We classify species and higher groups for a number of reasons, but the pressing reason right now...
Posted by John S. Wilkins at 5:33 AM • 4 Comments •
October 27, 2006
Category: Philosophy of Science
Karen Neander, an Australian philosopher of mind and biology, has moved to Duke. There's a nice press release about it here....
Posted by John S. Wilkins at 3:54 AM • 3 Comments •
October 26, 2006
Category: Logic and philosophy
OK, so someone sent me a copy of The God Delusion and I have to say, I'm not impressed. Let's get this straight, it's not a work of science, but of philosophy. Dawkins is making a rhetorical case, not a...
Posted by John S. Wilkins at 9:54 PM • 84 Comments •
Category: Politics
I have often felt disgusted by the fact that homosexual partners can be excluded from sharing their SO's last minutes because they "aren't" family, and are unable to inherit, and all the other legal benefits that come along with marriage...
Posted by John S. Wilkins at 12:02 AM • 22 Comments •
October 25, 2006
Category: Evolution
Every so often, whether by design or random chance*, a number of research items get released on or about the same topic. Today's topic is bees. First off, an amberised fossil bee that shows similarities with wasps (thereby confirming...
Posted by John S. Wilkins at 11:00 PM • 1 Comments •
Category: Logic and philosophy
There's a fair bit of to-and-fro going on with the Sciblings about Richard Dawkins' latest book The God Delusion, which, being at the edge of empire, I haven't yet seen. When I do, I will read it and comment, of...
Posted by John S. Wilkins at 9:25 PM • 38 Comments •
