Abstract
This volume offers a broad overview of central issues in the philosophy of behavioral biology, addressing philosophical issues that arise from the most recent scientific findings in biological research on behavior. It thus exemplifies an approach to philosophy of science that is scientifically informed as well as interdisciplinary. Accordingly, it includes chapters by professional philosophers and philosophers of science, as well as practicing scientists.
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- 1.
Interestingly, Karola Stotz and Colin Allen make a similar point about scientific disciplines in their paper; to address this, they “promote a biologically-informed psychology and a psychologically-informed biology.”
- 2.
In addition to including scholars from a wide range of disciplines, this volume also displays a great deal of diversity in terms of gender, nationality, and academic rank (including chapters by graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and assistant, associate and full professors).
- 3.
Interestingly, Helen Longino addresses a variety of scientific approaches to studying human behavior, including behavioral genetic, developmental, and neuroscientific approaches, but intentionally excludes evolutionary accounts in her analysis.
- 4.
Longino mentions Genome Wide Association Studies (GWAS) as an example of a popular method in molecular behavioral genetics. Interestingly, in chapter 3, Turkheimer specifically addresses recent failures of GWAS and discusses why he thinks it is not likely to be successful.
- 5.
This is an assumption with which Stotz and Allen disagree (see chapter 5).
- 6.
Stotz and Allen note that most of the evidence for these mechanisms comes from experiments with animals that would not be practical or ethical to do on humans. However, they suggest that the evidence from animal studies is sufficient to warrant looking for epigenetic changes in humans, citing one study already underway that is examining the influence of parental care on child development.
Acknowledgements
We want to thank the 19 contributors to this volume, as well as the nearly 40 referees who generously spent their time and energy evaluating and commenting on the chapters that were submitted for publication. Also, we are indebted to those institutions who helped make possible the conference that led to this volume: the German Research Council (DFG), the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture, the Leibniz Universität Hannover Fund for Internationalization, the Center for Philosophy and Ethics of Science (ZEWW) at the Leibniz Universität Hannover, and the Minnesota Center for Philosophy of Science (MCPS) at the University of Minnesota. In addition, we’re grateful to the conference participants for providing excellent presentations and stimulating discussions, as well as to an engaging audience.
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Plaisance, K.S., Reydon, T.A.C. (2012). The Philosophy of Behavioral Biology. In: Plaisance, K., Reydon, T. (eds) Philosophy of Behavioral Biology. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol 282. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1951-4_1
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