Now on ScienceBlogs: And so, driven on ceaselessly toward new shores
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.
February 26, 2009
Category: Biodiversity
PD Magnus on the history of the philosophy of science in the last 50 years, in around 1400 words. A short primer on the Greenhouse Effect Mendeley, a bibliographic cloud project, has raised funding from Last.fm, Warner and Skype execs....
Posted by John S. Wilkins at 10:22 PM • •
Category: Administrative
Folks, I haven't forgotten you or the promised myth posts, but I've had to do some book stuff, along with Real Life stuff. So hang tight - I'm away this weekend (and - shock! - I'm not taking the laptop...
Posted by John S. Wilkins at 8:14 AM • •
February 25, 2009
Category: Logic and philosophy
This is a kind of note to myself, an aide memoire to remind me of the fact that much of the modern narrative about classification in biology before Darwin is not correct. It's also interesting that Whewell defines systematics, but...
Posted by John S. Wilkins at 11:18 AM • 5 Comments •
February 23, 2009
Category: Humor
I can't not do this, because I want to display to the world how nerdish and little of a life I have... Later note: The link above is crap. Instead I'm replacing it with the actual BBC Book list....
Posted by John S. Wilkins at 3:47 AM • 22 Comments •
February 21, 2009
Category: General Science
A 6th grade maths and science teacher emailed me about whether theories could become laws. Below the fold is his request and my reply. The short answer is that when laws grow up, they become theories, not the other way...
Posted by John S. Wilkins at 8:40 PM • 16 Comments •
Category: Biodiversity
A new blog that looks promising is here. In one of their first pieces they note that Cameroon is following the Congo's example and setting up preserves for gorillas (and other things)....
Posted by John S. Wilkins at 12:02 PM • 2 Comments •
February 20, 2009
Category: Evolution
This myth says a lot about the default views of western thinking, rather like the issue of teleology....
Posted by John S. Wilkins at 9:23 AM • 25 Comments •
February 19, 2009
Category: Evolution
This myth has more to do with what people thought their own views contrasted to, than anything Darwin said, but like all myths, there's a hint of truth underlying it. The problem with this myth is the ambiguity of the...
Posted by John S. Wilkins at 10:54 AM • 14 Comments •
February 17, 2009
Category: Administrative
Once upon a time, I made mention, simply a mention, of a paper by one Matts Envall, which I said I would later comment on. I did so because a friend of mine, Malte Ebach, told me about him and...
Posted by John S. Wilkins at 8:29 PM • 17 Comments •
February 16, 2009
I finally have internet - only took Primus three weeks to install and get working my internet and phone - and that was with an existing account and line! Tonight I went to the opening of a Thomas Henry Huxley...
Posted by John S. Wilkins at 11:03 PM • 5 Comments •
