Evolutionary Thinking Across Disciplines:

Problems and Perspectives in Generalized Darwinism

Edited, with Agathe Du Crest, Martina Valković, André Ariew, Hugh Desmond and Philippe Huneman 

Springer, 2023 (Synthese Library Vol. 478)

The remit evolutionary thinking has expanded well beyond its initial scope in biological science. The broad application of evolutionary thinking gives rise to a number of questions that remain unanswered and that make “generalizing Darwinism” a topic for study and debate for and between philosophers and scientists. The present volume aims to advance philosophical and theoretical work on these questions by providing an opinionated survey of the current state of the art in research on relevant topics in the life sciences, the philosophy of science, and the various areas of evolutionary research outside the life sciences. The volume aims to achieve more clarity on the epistemic potential of applying evolutionary thinking outside biology. To do so, the volume collects work by researchers on the forefront of evolutionary approaches in a selection of fields. By bringing together chapters by evolutionary biologists, systematic biologists, philosophers of biology, philosophers of social science, complex systems modelers, psychologists, anthropologists, economists, linguists, historians, and educators, the volume examines evolutionary thinking within and outside the life sciences from a multidisciplinary perspective.

The publisher's page is here, the table of contents is here (pdf download). Contributing authors: André Ariew, Karim Baraghith, H. Clark Barrett, Eva Brandl, Sylvain Charlat, Étienne Danchin, Hugh Desmond, Agathe Du Crest, Dustin Eirdosh, Alexandre Gefen, Susann, Hanisch, Thomas Heams, Philippe Huneman, Theodore Koditschek, Guillaume Lecointre, Tim Lewens, Johann-Mattis List, Simon Lohse, Ruth Mace, Alberto J.C. Micheletti, Daniel Nettle, Karthik Panchanathan, Sarah Peacey, Thomas Reydon, Olivier Rivoire, Hannah Rubin, Gerhard Schurz, Thom Scott-Phillips, Carsten Strathausen, Martina Valković, Randall E. Westgren, Ulrich Witt, Hanzhi Zhang.

Grundriss Wissenschaftsphilosophie:

Die Philosophien der Einzelwissenschaften

Edited, with Simon Lohse

Felix Meiner Verlag, 2017; licensed edition: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2017

This volume provides an introduction to the philosophies of the special sciences, aimed at graduate students in both philosophy of science and in the various sciences, as well as researchers in the various sciences interested in the philosophy of their particular field of work. The term 'science' is conceived broadly, in the sense of the German term 'Wissenschaft', and the volume covers a wide spectrum of academic disciplines: included are chapters on the philosophy of physics, chemistry, biology, biomedical science, neuroscience, cognitive science, psychology, geosciences and environmental science, climate science, the engineering sciences, sociology, economics, legal studies, political science, mathematics, linguistics, literary studies, historical science, as well as a chapter on the philosophy of philosophy.

Download the table of contents here (pdf). Clicking on the cover picture gets you to the publisher's page for the book (Felix Meiner Verlag). The publisher's page for the edition with Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft is here). Contributing authors: Richard Bradley, Chris Buskes, Uljana Feest, Eugen Fischer, Roman Frigg, Jens Greve, Sven Ove Hansson, Catherine Herfeld, Wolfram Hinzen, Lara Huber, Dietmar Hübner, Lara Keuck, Tobias Klauk, Maarten Kleinhans, Tilmann Köppe, Meinard Kuhlmann, Simon Lohse, Holger Lyre, Henk de Regt, Julian Reiss, Thomas Reydon, Joachim Schummer, Katie Steele, Erica Thompson, Sven Walter, Charlotte Werndl, Torsten Wilholt, Christian Wüthrich, Benno Zabel.

Reviews:

Irena Doiescu, Physik Journal 17 (2018), Nr. 1: 1-2.

Manfred Stöckler, Journal for General Philosophy of Science 49 (2018): 495-497.

Dirk Pilz, Frankfurter Rundschau, 2 August 2017 (Feuilleton, p. 32) & Berliner Zeitung, 4 August 2017 (Feuilleton/Medien, p. 23).

Artefact Kinds:

Ontology and the Human-Made World

Edited, with Maarten Franssen, Peter Kroes and Pieter Vermaas

Springer, 2014 (Synthese Library Vol. 365)

This book is concerned with two intimately related topics of metaphysics: the identity of entities and the foundations of classification. What it adds to previous discussions of these topics is that it addresses them with respect to human-made entities, that is, artefacts. As the chapters in the book show, questions of identity and classification require other treatments and lead to other answers for artefacts than for natural entities. These answers are of interest to philosophers not only for their clarification of artefacts as a category of things but also for the new light they may shed on these issues with respect to natural entities.

Download the table of contents here (pdf). Clicking on the cover picture gets you to the publisher's page for the book. Contributing authors: Massimiliano Carrara, Crawford Elder, Maarten Franssen, Silvia Gaio, Nicola Guarino, Wybo Houkes, Eric Kerr, Peter Kroes, Diego Lawler, E.J. Lowe, Beth Preston, Thomas Reydon, Marzia Soavi, Amie Thomasson, Jesús Vega-Encabo, Pieter Vermaas.

Wissenschaftsethik:

Eine Einführung

Authored

Ulmer/UTB, 2013

Researchers in the natural sciences (but in other areas of academic research and teaching too) are confronted with ethical issues, questions and problems on a regular basis. This introductory text in research ethics is aimed primarily at students in the natural sciences and is intended to make them aware of the various kinds of ethical issues that may arise in their later professional practice, as well as the responsability the working scientists have toward their colleagues, the scientific community in general, and society.

Clicking on the cover picture gets you to the publisher's page for the book. The publisher's flyer is here (pdf).

Philosophy of Behavioral Biology

Edited, with Kathryn Plaisance

Springer, 2012 (Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science Vol. 282)

This volume provides a broad overview of issues in the philosophy of behavioral biology, covering four main themes: genetic, developmental, evolutionary, and neurobiological explanations of behavior. It is both interdisciplinary and empirically informed in its approach, addressing philosophical issues that arise from recent scientific findings in biological research on human and non-human animal behavior. Accordingly, it includes papers by professional philosophers and philosophers of science, as well as practicing scientists. Much of the work in this volume builds on presentations given at the international conference, “Biological Explanations of Behavior: Philosophical Perspectives”, held in 2008 at the Leibniz Universität Hannover in Germany. The volume is intended to be of interest to a broad range of audiences, which includes philosophers (e.g., philosophers of mind, philosophers of biology, and metaethicists), as well as practicing scientists, such as biologists or psychologists whose interests relate to biological explanations of behavior.

Download the table of contents here (pdf). Clicking on the cover picture gets you to the publisher's page for the book, the Google Books page is here. Contributing authors: Adele Abrahamsen, Colin Allen, William Bechtel, Christine Clavien, Helen de Cruz, Andrew Fenton, Brian Garvey, Rebekka Klein, Helen Longino, Mark Nelissen, Robert Northcott, Kathryn Plaisance, Thomas Reydon, Armin Schulz, Johan de Smedt, Karola Stotz, Eric Turkheimer, Jan Verpooten, Chuck Ward, Marcel Weber, David Sloan Wilson.

Der universale Leibniz:

Denker, Forscher, Erfinder

Edited, with Helmut Heit and Paul Hoyningen-Huene

Franz Steiner Verlag, 2009

When representatives of various disciplines are asked about the relevance of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz for their field, the answer often is that in their particular field, too, Leibniz made an important contribution. Leibniz, who lived and worked in Hannover for forty years, still impresses us today not only because of the excellence of his contributions, but also because of the great scope of his work. This book collects essays on Leibniz' work in the fields of history, theology, philosophy, mathematics, engineering, linguistics, law, political consultancy, and insurance, as well as a biographical essay on Leibniz' time in Hannover. The essays aim to give an overview of the scope of Leibniz' work and are based on a series of lectures given in Hannover in the Summer Semester of 2007 on the occasion of the official renaming of the University of Hannover to Leibniz Universität Hannover.

Download the table of contents here (pdf). Clicking on the cover picture gets you to the publisher's page for the book. Contributing authors: Herbert Breger, Hubertus Busche, Werner Eisner, Carl-Hans Hauptmeyer, Eike Christian Hirsch, Eberhard Knobloch, Peter Schlobinski, Wilhelm Schmidt-Biggemann, Hans-Peter Schneider, Erwin Stein, Rolf Wernstedt.

Current Themes in Theoretical Biology:

A Dutch Perspective

Edited, with Lia Hemerik

Springer, 2005

This book originated as a Festschrift to mark the publication of Volume 50 of the journal Acta Biotheoretica in 2002 and the journal's 70th anniversary in 2005. In it, eleven previously unpublished research papers have been collected that reflect the entire scope of topics on which Acta Biotheoretica publishes. Acta Biotheoretica is a journal on theoretical biology that has its roots in the Dutch tradition of theoretical biology. From the perspective of this tradition, theoretical biology is understood as encompassing a broad spectrum of disciplines ranging from mathematical biology to philosophy of biology. To reflect the Dutch roots of the journal, all papers have been invited from authors that work in The Netherlands. This book is aimed at an audience of theoretical and mathematical biologists, philosophers of biology and philosophers of science, and biologists in general.

Download the table of contents here (pdf). Clicking on the cover picture gets you to the publisher's page for the book, the Google Books page is here. Contributing authors: Piet Dullemeijer, Martijn Egas, Rampal Etienne, Johan Grasman, Thomas Hagenaars, Lia Hemerik, Rob Hengeveld, Onno van Herwaarden, Nelly van der Hoeven, Patrick Jansen, S.A.L.M. Kooijman, D.J. Kornet, James McAllister, Thomas Reydon, Wim van der Steen, Cor van der Weele, Arno Wouters.