In the history and literature courses I took, epistemological questions came to interest me most. What makes one explanation of the French Revolution better than another? What makes one interpretation of "Waiting for Godot" better than another? These questions led… — Elliott Sober Copy Share Image
From the fact that E is evidence for T and the fact that T entails M, it doesn't follow that E is evidence for… — Elliott Sober Copy Share
Evolutionary game theory was originally developed as an alternative to the hypothesis of group selection; now it is clear that game theory models postulate… — Elliott Sober Copy Share
Earlier attempts to show that simpler theories always have higher prior probabilities have failed, but there is a restricted circumstance in which the claim… — Elliott Sober Copy Share
"Methodological naturalism" and "metaphysical naturalism" are terms that often surface in the continuing battle between evolutionary biology and creationism/intelligent design. The methodological thesis says… — Elliott Sober Copy Share
The big picture, I think, is that common ancestry is evidentially prior to natural selection in Darwin's theory and in contemporary evolutionary biology as… — Elliott Sober Copy Share
This is not to deny that there are versions of theism that do conflict with evolutionary biology. Young Earth Creationism is an example; it… — Elliott Sober Copy Share
Some philosophical arguments (e.g., in connection with the mind/body problem) look pretty good, while others (e.g., those that criticize moral realism) do not. — Elliott Sober Copy Share
I have spent a lot of time arguing that the theory of group selection is not the stupid, pernicious doctrine that many biologists once… — Elliott Sober Copy Share
Group selection and individual selection are just two of the selection processes that have played important roles in evolution. There also is selection within… — Elliott Sober Copy Share
Instead of thinking of the question of race genealogically, and leaving it open whether vernacular races are genealogical units, the interest in biomedicine has… — Elliott Sober Copy Share
If the organisms in a species now have trait T, and this trait now helps those organisms to survive and reproduce because the trait… — Elliott Sober Copy Share
Another way to test hypotheses about adaptation is to consider trait variation across a group of species instead of focusing on the trait of… — Elliott Sober Copy Share
Evolutionary theory, properly understood, does not conflict with the idea that God occasionally intervenes in nature - for example, by once or twice causing… — Elliott Sober Copy Share
