Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-dfsvx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-28T11:25:18.942Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Karl Popper's Philosophy of Biology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Michael Ruse
Michael Ruse*
Affiliation:
University of Guelph
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In recent years Sir Karl Popper has been turning his attention more and more towards philosophical problems arising from biology, particularly evolutionary biology. Popper suggests that perhaps neo-Darwinian evolutionary theory is better categorized as a metaphysical research program than as a scientific theory. In this paper it is argued that Popper can draw his conclusions only because he is abysmally ignorant of the current status of biological thought and that Popper's criticisms of biology are without force and his suggestions for its improvement are without need. Also it is suggested that Popper's desire to see scientific theory growth as being in some sense evolutionary may have led him astray about biology. And conversely it is suggested that since his claims about biology are not well taken his analysis of theory growth may well bear reexamination.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 44 , Issue 4 , December 1977 , pp. 638 - 661
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 1977

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

†

Anonymous referees and David Hull gave me valuable comments on earlier versions of this paper.

References

[1] Ayala, F. J., Tracey, M. L., Barr, L. G., McDonald, J. F., and Pevez-Salas, S., “Genetic Variation in Natural Populations of Five Drosophila Species and the Hypothesis of the Selective Neutrality of Protein Polymorphisms.” Genetics 77 (1974): 343–384.10.1093/genetics/77.2.343CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
[2] Dobzhansky, T. Genetics and the Origin of Species (3rd ed.) New York: Columbia University Press, 1951.Google Scholar
[3] Dobzhansky, T. Genetics of the Evolutionary Process. New York: Columbia University Press, 1970.Google Scholar
[4] Goldschmidt, R. The Material Basis of Evolution. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1940.Google Scholar
[5] Goldschmidt, R. “Evolution as Viewed by One Geneticist.” American Scientist 40 (1952): 84–135.Google Scholar
[6] Goudge, T. A. The Ascent of Life. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1961.Google Scholar
[7] Hull, D. L. Philosophy of Biological Science. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1974.Google Scholar
[8] Lack, D. Darwin's Finches. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1947.Google Scholar
[9] Lack, D. The Natural Regulation of Animal Numbers. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1954.Google Scholar
[10] Lack, D. Population Studies of Birds. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1966.Google Scholar
[11] Lewontin, R. “Evolution and the Theory of Games.” Journal of Theoretical Biology 1 (1962): 382–403. Reprinted in M. Grene and E. Mendelsohn (eds). Topics in the Philosophy of Biology. Dordrecht: Reidel, 1976, pp. 286–311.10.1016/0022-5193(61)90038-8CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[12] Lewontin, R. “The Bases of Conflict in Biological Explanation.” Journal of the History of Biology 2 (1969): 35–45.10.1007/BF00137266CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[13] Lewontin, R. The Genetic Basis of Evolutionary Change. New York; Columbia University Press, 1974.Google Scholar
[14] Manser, A. R. “The Concept of Evolution.” Philosophy 40 (1965): 18–34.10.1017/S0031819100052426CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[15] Mayr, E. “The Emergence of Evolutionary Novelties.” in S. Tax (ed.), Evolution After Darwin. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1960, pp. 349–380.Google Scholar
[16] Mayr, E. Animal Species and Evolution. Cambridge, Mass: Belknap, 1963.10.4159/harvard.9780674865327CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[17] Monod, J. “On the Molecular Theory of Evolution,” in R. Harré (ed.), Problems of Scientific Revolution: Progress and Obstacles to Progress in the Sciences. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1975.Google Scholar
[18] Popper, K. The Poverty of Historicism. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1957, corrected version, 1963.Google Scholar
[19] Popper, K. Objective Knowledge: An Evolutionary Approach. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1972; corrected version, 1975.Google Scholar
[20] Popper, K. “Darwinism as a Metaphysical Research Programme.” In P. A. Schilpp (ed.), The Philosophy of Karl Popper. Vol. I. LaSalle, Ill: Open Court, 1974, pp. 133–143.Google Scholar
[21] Popper, K. “The Rationality of Scientific Revolutions,” In R. Harré (ed.), Problems of Scientific Revolution: Progress and Obstacles to Progress in the Sciences. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1975.Google Scholar
[22] Ruse, M. “Confirmation and Falsification of Theories of Evolution.” Scientia 104 (1969): 329–357.Google Scholar
[23] Ruse, M. “Are There Laws in Biology?” Australasian Journal of Philosophy 48 (1970): pp. 234–246.10.1080/00048407012341201CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[24] Ruse, M. “Is the Theory of Evolution Different?” Scientia 106 (1972): 765–783, 1069–1093.Google Scholar
[25] Ruse, M. The Philosophy of Biology. London: Hutchinson, 1973.Google Scholar
[26] Ruse, M. “Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution: An Analysis,” Journal of the History of Biology 8 (1975): 219–241.Google ScholarPubMed
[27] Ruse, M. “The Relationship Between Science and Religion in Britain, 1830–1870.” Church History 46 (1975): 505–522.10.2307/3163829CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[28] Ruse, M. “William Whewell and the Argument from Design.” Monist 60 (1977): 227–257.10.5840/monist19776022CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[29] Sheppard, P. M. Natural Selection and Heredity. Fourth Edition. London: Hutchinson, 1975.Google Scholar
[30] Simpson, G. G. The Major Features of Evolution. New York: Columbia University Press, 1953.10.7312/simp93764CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[31] Simpson, G. “Historical Science.” In The Fabric of Geology. Standford: Freeman, Cooper, 1963, pp. 24–48.Google Scholar
[32] Stanley, S. M. “An Explanation for Cope's Rule.” Evolution 27 (1973): 1–26.10.1111/j.1558-5646.1973.tb05912.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
[33] Stebbins, G. L. Variation and Evolution in Plants. New York: Columbia University Press, 1950.10.7312/steb94536CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[34] Waddington, C. H. The Strategy of the Genes. London: Allen and Unwin, 1957.Google Scholar
[35] Williams, G. C. Adaptation and Natural Selection. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1966.Google Scholar
[36] Williams, M. B. “Falsifiable Predictions of Evolutionary Theory.” Philosophy of Science 40 (1973): 518–537.10.1086/288562CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[37] Wilson, E. O. Sociobiology. Cambridge, Mass: Belknap, 1974.Google Scholar
[38] Wynne-Edwards, V. C. Animal Dispersion in Relation to Social Behaviour Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, 1962.Google Scholar