September 28 - 29, 2018

History and Philosophy of Evolutionary Biology: Past Achievements, Future Prospects 

A Conference Sponsored by the Werkmeister Bequest to the Philosophy Department

Friday morning (9:30-12:30): “History of Evolutionary Biology: Past Achievements.” 

Session Chair: Jack Justus

Ron Numbers (rnumbers@wisc.edu): “Creationism”

• • Commentator: Dan Deen (daniel.deen@cui.edu)

Polly Winsor (polly.winsor@utoronto.ca): “The Revolutionary Nature of Darwin's Thinking as Shown by Strickland's Chart”

• • Commentator: Georgia Rae Rainer (grainer@fsu.edu)

David Sepkoski (sepkoski@illinois.edu): “Sociobiology and Ideology: or, was Ed Wilson really all wet?”

• • Commentator: Elizabeth Jones (elizabeth.jones.13@ucl.ac.uk)

Mark Borrello (borrello@umn.edu): "The Renaissance of Group Selection: Is Michael Ruse all wet?”

• • Commentator: Jeremy Kirby (jkirby@albion.edu)

Friday afternoon (2:00-5:00): “Philosophy of Evolutionary Biology: Past Achievements.”

Session Chair: Ron Doel

Derek Turner (dtur@conncoll.edu): "Have philosophers helped us understand macroevolution?”

• • Commentator: David Steffes (dsteffes77@gmail.com)

Robert Richards (r-richards@uchicago.edu): “The Romantic Source of Archetype Theory and Owen’s Plagiarism.”

• • Commentator: Jeff O’Connell (jmoconnell@fsu.edu)

Paul Thompson (p.thompson@utoronto.ca): “Codifying the Structure of Evolutionary Theory”

• • Commentator: Charlie Alt (calt@pds.org)

Pete Takacs (ptakacs@fsu.edu): "Philosophy of Biomedicine for the 21st Century.”

• • Commentator: Steve Morris (stephen.morris@csi.cuny.edu)

FRIDAY EVENING:  Private dinner for participants

Saturday morning (10:00-1:00): “Science and Religion” 

Session Chair: John Kelsay

Ed Larson (ed.larson@pepperdine.edu): "With a Creationist as Secretary of Education and a Conservative Supreme Court, What is the Ongoing Significance of the Scopes Trial?”

• • Commentator: Emily Hutcheson (esmhutcheson@gmail.com)

Mike Peterson (mike.peterson@asburyseminary.edu): "Theism as the Proper Worldview Home of Science.”

• • Commentator: Christopher Zarpentine (christoph.zarpentine@wilkes.edu)

John Beatty (john.beatty@ubc.ca): "It pleased the Creator that . . . Capricious God and Capricious Nature in the Darwinian Revolution”

• • Commentator: Sarah Whylly (swhylly@santarosa.edu)

Saturday afternoon (2:30-5:00): “History and Philosophy of Biology: New Directions” 

Session Chair: Christopher Pynes

Grant Ramsey (grant.ramsey@kuleuven.be): “What is the philosophy of biology?”

• • Commentator: Edwin Siu (edwsiu@gmail.com)

Betty Smocovitis (bsmocovi@ufl.edu): “Is a New Evolutionary Synthesis Necessary? Rethinking Stebbins and Ayala (1981) in Light of the Extended Synthesis”

• • Commentator: Jason Zinser (jason.Zinser@uwsp.edu)

Richard Richards (rrichard@ua.edu): "The Biology of Art.”

• • Commentator: Sam Muka ( samanthamuka@gmail.com)

SATURDAY EVENING: Fish fry chez Ruse (6:00pm) — all invited