Smoky Mountains, Tennessee
Education:
Ph.D. University of
Calgary (Alberta, Canada), Philosophy. September
2001.
M.A. Southern Illinois
University at Carbondale (Carbondale, Illinois),
Philosophy. May 1996.
B.A. Belmont University
(Nashville, Tennessee), Philosophy and Biology, May,
1994.
Areas of
Specialization:
Philosophy of Biology,
Environmental Ethics, Philosophy of Science
Areas of
Competence:
Moral Philosophy, Logic,
Metaphysics
Academic
Appointments:
2003- present Lewis and
Clark College, Assistant Professor
2001-2003 University of
California, San Diego. Lecturer
Publications:
Ecology and the Inescapability of Values, Science and Engineering Ethics, to appear.
Philosophy of Biology, (with Matt Haber, Andrew Hamilton, and Samir Okasha) Philosophy of the Special Sciences, edited by Fritz Allhof, Blackwell Press.
Models in Biology Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, to appear.
A Philosophy for Biodiversity?, Biology and Philosophy,to appear.
Seeing the Forest and the Trees, Philosophy of Science, to appear.
The Strategy of “The Strategy of Model Building in Population Biology Biology and Philosophy, to appear.
A Message in the Bottle? The Constraints of Experimentation on Scientific Reasoning" Philosophy of Science, to appear.
What Isn’t Wrong with Ecosystem Ecology (with Kevin de Laplante) Philosophy and the Life Sciences, MIT Press.
Models in Blackwell Companion to the Philosophy of Biology , Blackwell Press, forthcoming.
Struggling with the Sciences of Ecology Biology and Philosophy 2006 21: 395-409.
The 'Structure' of Population Ecology: Philosophical Reflections on Unstructured and Structured Models, in Ecological Paradigm's Lost: Routes of Theory Change, ed. Kim Cuddington and Beatrix Beisner, 63-77 Academic Press.
Idealized, Inaccurate, and Successful: A Pragmatic Approach to Evaluating Models in Theoretical Ecology Biology and Philosophy 20050, 20: 231-255.
Ecology Encyclopedia for the Philosophy of Science, ed.
Sahotra Sarkar, Routledge Press.
Complex Systems,
Trade-Offs and Mathematical Modeling: A Response to Sober
and Orzack" Philosophy of Science 2003, 70 (December) pp. 1496–1507
Advocacy, Value, and
Conservation Biology Environmental Values 2003
Vol. 12, Issue 1, pp. 55-69.
Ecological Stability, Model Building, and Environmental Policy: A Reply to Some
of the Pessimism" Philosophy of Science, 2001 68
(Proceedings), pp. S493-S505.
Book
Reviews:
"Darwinism & Philosophy" edited by Vittorio Hosle and Christian Illies, Choice Reviews.
"Epistemology and the Psychology of Human Judgment," Choice Reviews.
"Human Nature and the
Limits of Science," Philosophy of Science 2003, Vol. 70, No. 4, pp. 849-852.
Work in Progress:
"A Field Guide to the Philosophy of Ecology" (Mark Colyvan, Stefan Linquist, William Grey, Paul E. Griffiths, Jay Odenbaugh, and Hugh P. Possingham (in progress)
"Philosophy of the Environmental Sciences" New Waves in the Philosophy of Science
"The Nature of Nature: The Ontology of Ecosystems"New Waves in the Philosophy of Science
"Robert MacArthur" Hanbook of the Philosophy of Science, Volume 11 - Philosophy of Ecology, Bryson Brown, Kevin de Laplante and Kent Peacock (eds.) (in progress)
"Complex Ecological Systems" Hanbook of the Philosophy of Science, Volume 11 - Philosophy of Complex Systems, Cliff Hooker (ed.) (in progress)
"The End of Nature?" Post-Environmentalism: Scholars Consider the Death of Environmentalism Thesis, edited by William Chaloupka, Jim Proctor, and Jay Odenbaugh (in progress)
Post-Environmentalism: Scholars Consider the Death of Environmentalism Thesis, edited by William Chaloupka, Jim Proctor, and Jay Odenbaugh (in progress)
On the Contrary: A Philosophical Examination of the Environmental Sciences and Their Critics (in progress)
Presentations:
2008
"Invasive Species and Environmental Ethics" Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Oregon State University
"Seeing the Forest and the Trees" Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Oregon State University
"The Edges and Boundaries of Ecosystems" University of Utah, Edges and Boundaries of Biological Objects Workshop
2007
"A General, Unifying Theory of Ecology" Workshop on Ecological Theory, University of Conneticut, August 17-18, 2007.
"Robustness, Multiple Models, and Realism" International Society for the History, Philosophy, and
Social Studies of the Biological Sciences, Exeter, University of Exeter, July 25-29, 2007.
2006
"Conservation Biology as Crisis Science; or Should Biologists Be Advocates?" Twentieth Biennial Philosophy of Science Association Meeting, Austin, Texas, November 2-4, 2006.
"Seeing the Forest and the Trees" Twentieth Biennial Philosophy of Science Association Meeting, Austin, Texas, November 2-4, 2006.
"Seeing the Forest and the Trees", 2nd Queensland Biohumanities Conference (2QBC): The Philosophy of Ecology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, June 29-30 2006.
"Extinction? A Philosopher Replices to the Skeptics" University of Washington, March 2, 2006.
2005
“The Diversity-Stability Debate: Models, Methods, and Morality” Workshop on Models and Simulations, Harvey Mudd College , October 17 – 20, 2005 .
“Advocacy, Value and Conservation Biology” Environmental Ethics, Science, and Policy, University of Utah , April 7 – 10, 2005 .
“Seeing the Forest and the Trees?” Environmental Ethics, Science, and Policy, University of Utah , April 7 – 10, 2005 .
“The Strategy of ‘The Strategy of Model-Building in Population Biology” Models in Biology: The Strategy of Model Building 1966 – 2005, April 2, 2005 , University of Pennsylvania .
"Salmon, Why Bother? Spawning an Environmental Ethic", Environmental Studies, Lewis and Clark College, Feb. 14, 2005.
2004
"Preserving the Promised Land: The Environmental Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr." U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, January 20, 2004.
"A Message in the Bottle: The Constraints of Experimentation on Scientific Reasoning" Nineteenth Biennial Philosophy of Science
Association Meeting, Austin, Texas, November 18-20,
2004.
“Mathematical Models in Ecology" ISHPSSB Future Directions in History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology Workshop, University of San Francisco , Sept. 23-26, 2004
"Method in Philosophy of Biology: Paying Attention to Other Special Sciences" ISHPSSB Future Directions in History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology Workshop, University of San Francisco , Sept. 23-26, 2004
"Theory as Tools: A Pragmatic Approach to Evaluating Models in Ecology” Science Seminar, Lewis and Clark College , April 27, 2004 .
2003
"True Lies: Robustness and Idealization in Ecological Explanations" Pacific Division of the American Philosophical Association , Pasadena, CA, March 2003.
"Is It Reasonable to Believe Positive Relevance Theories of Evidence?" Oregon Academy of the Sciences, Portland State University, February 28, 2004
Commentary on Mark Sagoff's “The Plaza and Pendulum”, International Society for Environmental Ethics session at the Eastern Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association, Washington, D.C., December 2003.
Commentary on Roberta Millstein's “Natural Selection, Genetically Modified Food, and the Environment”, International Society for Environmental Ethics session at the Eastern Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association, Washington, D.C., December 2003.
Commentary on Tom Seppalainen's “ The Explanatory Gap and the Questionable Roots of Necessitarian Epistemology” Northwest Philosophy Conference, Reed College , October 5, 2003 .
"True Lies: Robustness
and Idealization in Ecological Explanations" Northwest
Philosophy Conference, Reed College, October 4,
2003.
"True Lies: Robustness
and Idealization in Ecological Explanations" Department
of Philosophy, Lewis and Clark College, September 12,
2003.
"True Lies: Robustness
and Idealization in Ecological Explanations" International Society for the History, Philosophy and
Social Studies of the Biological Sciences, Vienna,
Austria July 26, 2003.
Commentary on Matt
Haber's "On Probability and Systematics" University of
California San Diego, Graduate Philosophy Conference,
April 11-12, 2003
Invited paper for the
Symposium Author Meets Critics, Sahotra Sarkar's
Environmental Philosophy and Biodiversity Conservation,
The American Philosophical Association Pacific Division,
Seventy-Seventh Annual Meeting Program, San Francisco,
California, March 26-30, 2003
"Philosophy of Ecology," Department of Philosophy, University of San Diego, March
17, 2003
"Species Extinctions,
Ecological Models, and Scientific Uncertainty: A
Troubling Triad," Department of Philosophy, Oregon State
University, February 6, 2003.
"Value, Advocacy, and
Conservation Biology", Department of Philosophy, Oregon
State University, Februrary 5, 2003.
"Species Extinctions,
Ecological Models, and Scientific Uncertainty: A
Troubling Triad," Department of Philosophy, Lewis and
Clark College, February 3, 2003.
"Species Extinctions,
Ecological Models, and Scientific Uncertainty: A
Troubling Triad," Department of Philosophy, University of
Alabama Birmingham, January 30, 2003.
"Species Extinctions,
Ecological Models, and Scientific Uncertainty: A
Troubling Triad," Department of Philosophy, California
State University Fresno, January 21, 2003.
2002
"Species Extinctions,
Ecological Models, and Scientific Uncertainty: A
Troubling Triad" Scripps Institute of Oceanography,
University of California San Diego, November 22,
2002.
"Complex Systems,
Trade-Offs and Mathematical Modeling: A Response to Sober
and Orzack" Eighteenth Biennial Philosophy of Science
Association Meeting, Milwaukee, Wisconsin November 2-5,
2002.
"Species Extinctions,
Ecological Models, and Scientific Uncertainty: A
Troubling Triad" Western Canadian Philosophical
Association, October 28, 2002, University of Calgary,
Calgary, Alberta.
"Desiderata in Tension:
On the Limits of Modeling in Ecology and Evolution" University of California, San Diego, Department of
Philosophy, San Diego, California, June 7,
2002.
"Species Extinctions,
Ecological Models, and Scientific Uncertainty: A
Troubling Triad" Canadian Philosophical Association, May
25, 2002, University of Toronto, Toronto,
Ontario.
"Complex Systems,
Trade-offs and Mathematical Modeling: Richard Levin's
'Strategy of Model Building in Population Biology'
Revisited" University of Western Ontario, Department of
Philosophy, London, Ontario, February 4, 2002.
"Complex Systems,
Trade-offs and Mathematical Modeling: Richard Levins'
'Strategy of Model Building in Population Biology'
Revisited" Indiana University, History and Philosophy of
Science Department, Bloomington, IN, January 23, 2002.
"How Idealized and
Inaccurate Models Contribute to Successful Science: A
Pragmatic Approach to Evaluating Models in Theoretical
Ecology" Indiana University, History and Philosophy of
Science Department, Bloomington, IN, January 22, 2002.
2001
"The 'Marlboro Circle',
Theoretical Population Biology, and Unification" International Society for the History, Philosophy, and
Social Studies of the Biological Sciences, Quinnipiac
University, Hamden CT, July 18-22, 2001.
2000
"Ecological Stability,
Model Building, and Environmental Policy: A Reply to Some
of the Pessimism" Seventeenth Biennial Philosophy of
Science Association Meeting, Vancouver, British Columbia,
November 2-5, 2000.
1999
"The Strategy of Model
Building in Population and Community Ecology" International Society for the History, Philosophy, and
Social Studies of the Biological Sciences, Oaxaca, Mexico
July 7-11, 1999.
1998
"Why Philosophers Should
Focus on the Strategy of Model Building and Not Just
Models" Western Canadian Philosophical Association
Conference at the University of British Columbia,
Vancouver, British Columbia November 1998.
Teaching
Experience:
As Assistant
Professor
Lewis and Clark
College
PHIL 453
Realism/Anti-realism, PHIL 453 Darwinian Revolutions, PHIL 452 Global Climate Change, PHIL 452 Consequentialism, PHIL 310 Metaphysics, PHIL 101
Logic, PHIL 103 Ethics, PHIL 201 Philosophy of Religion, PHIL 202 Philosophy of Science
As
Instructor
University of
California at San Diego
PHIL 12 Causal and
Statistical Reasonings, PHIL 33 Philosophy in the Age of
Enlightenment (Empiricism), PHIL 148 Philosophy and the
Environment, PHIL 163 Bio-Medical Ethics, PHIL 164
Technology and Human Values, PHIL 147 Philosophy of
Biology, PHIL 285 Seminar on Special Topics: Philosophy
of Biology
University of
Calgary
PHIL 321 Metaphysics
(1998)
Belmont University
Nashville, Tennessee
PHIL 151 Introductory
formal logic (1997), PHIL 160 Introductory philosophy
(1996)
John A. Logan
Community College Carbondale, Illinois
PHIL 121 Introduction to
Logic (1996)
Other Experience:
Causal Reasoning Course
Workshop, August 6-10, 2001 Carnegie Mellon University,
Department of Philosophy, hosted by Richard
Scheines.
Community Service
Ethics Bowl Advisor for Lewis and Clark College 2007 - 2008
Organizer for Lewis and Clark College's Focus the Nation
Lewis and Clark Steering Committee for Environmental Studies -
Lewis and Clark College First-Year Advising Program, 2002 -
Lewis and Clark College Sustainability Committee, 2002 -
Lewis and Clark Petition and Awards Committee 2007 -
Ethics Bowl Advisor for Lewis and Clark College 2005 - 2006
Lewis and Clark College Faculty Secretary 2005 - 2006
Job Search Committee for Environmental Studies Program Director, October 2002 – March 2003.
Faculty participation in the First-Year Advising Program, 2004-2005.
"Philosophy and Population Biology." A presentation with Paulette Bierzychudek for Environmental Studies ENVS 160: Introduction to Environmental Studies, Lewis and Clark College, February 18, 2004
"Parsimony and Phylogenetic Inference." A presentation for Phylogenetic Biology BIO 408 Lewis and Clark Collge, February 3, 2004.
“Is Reality Really Weird? Quantum Mechanics and Scientific Realism.” A presentation for “ What is Quantum? A Scientific Philosophy Extravaganza!” Lewis and Clark College , October 22, 2003 .
Scholarships and
Awards Held:
2007-08 National Science Foundation Workshop Grant, “Edges & Boundaries of Biological Objects.” $25,000 (with Matt Haber, University of Utah)
Nomination for the 2002
CAGS/UMI Distinguished Dissertation Award for the
Humanities, Social Sciences, and Fine Arts category by
Associate Deans in the Faculty of Graduate Studies,
University of Calgary
Graduate Faculty Council
Scholarship, May 2000-August 2001, University of
Calgary
Nesbitt Burns, Inc.
Graduate Scholarship, September 1, 1999 - December 31,
1999, University of Calgary
Graduate Faculty Council
Fee Deferment, September 1999, University of
Calgary
Graduate Faculty Council
Scholarship, May 1999 - August 1999, University of
Calgary
Dean of Graduate Studies
Doctoral Scholarship, September 1997 - August 1998,
University of Calgary
Paul A. Schillip Master's
Degree Philosophy Award, September 1995, Southern
Illinois University at Carbondale
Stacy Awalt Philosophy
Award, May 1994, Belmont University
Professional
Membership
American Philosophical
Association
International Society for
the Study of History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of
the Biological Sciences
International Society for Environmental Ethics
Philosophy of Science Association
Professional
Services
Referee for Biology and Philosophy
Referee for Blackwell Publishers
Referee for Environmental Values
Referee for Philosophy
of Science
Referee for
Science and Engineering Ethics
Referee for Synthese
Referee for The Journal of Philosophy, Science, and Law
Referee for The National Science Foundation
Referee for Trends in Ecology and Evolution
Referee for University of Chicago Press
