One influential philosophical position about the use of probability in science holds that probabilities are objective only if they are based on… — Elliott Sober Copy Share Image
Methodological naturalism gives advice to scientists about what they should include in their theories. There is a second type of methodological naturalism… — Elliott Sober Copy Share Image
Scientists often seek predictively accurate models, rather than models that are true. — Elliott Sober Copy Share Image
Unfortunately, philosophers of science usually regard scientific realism and scientific anti-realism as monistic doctrines. The assumption is that there is one goal… — Elliott Sober Copy Share Image
“What I should have said is that he thinks that there is a conflict between evolutionary biology and theism. Dennett thinks that… — Elliott Sober Copy Share Image
When I was in high school I found literature and history interesting, but science not at all. Literature and history obviously involved… — 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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
"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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
