PHIL 317
Philosophy of Biology
Winter 2025
Topics
- Philosophy of biology
- Evolution
- Development
- Molecular biology
- Genes
- Scientific explanations
Readings
- Richard Dawkins. The Selfish Gene. 40th anniversary edition. Oxford University Press, 2016.
- Marc Kirschner and John Gerhart. The Plausibility of Life: Resolving Darwin’s Dilemma. Yale University Press, 2005.
- P. Godfrey-Smith. Philosophy of Biology. Princeton University Press, 2014.
- P. E. Griffiths and K. Sterelny. Sex and Death: An Introduction to Philosophy of Biology. University of Chicago Press, 1999.
- B. Garvey. Philosophy of Biology. Acumen Press, 2007.
- E. Sober. Philosophy of Biology. 2nd edition. Westview Press, 2000.
- K. Kampourakis and T. Uller. Philosophy of Science for Biologists. Cambridge University Press, 2020.
- D. Hull and M. Ruse, eds. The Cambridge Companion to the Philosophy of Biology. Cambridge University Press, 2007.
- F. Ayala and R. Arp, eds. Contemporary Debates in Philosophy of Biology. Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.
- D. Hull and M. Ruse, eds. The Philosophy of Biology. Oxford University Press, 1998.
- E. Sober, ed. Conceptual Issues in Evolutionary Biology. 3rd edition. MIT Press, 2005.
- E. F. Keller. The Century of the Gene. Harvard University Press, 2000.
- M. Morange. The Misunderstood Gene. Harvard University Press, 2001.
- J. Roughgarden. The Genial Gene: Deconstructing Darwinian Selfishness. University of California Press, 2009.
- K. N. Laland and G. R. Brown. Sense and Nonsense: Evolutionary Perspectives on Human Behaviour. Oxford University Press, 2011.
- D. J. Buller. Adapting Minds: Evolutionary Psychology and the Persistent Quest for Human Nature. MIT Press, 2005.
- R. C. Richardson. Evolutionary Psychology as Maladapted Psychology. MIT Press, 2007.
- R. Amundson. The Changing Role of the Embryo in Evolutionary Thought: Roots of Evo-Devo. Cambridge University Press, 2005.
- J. Robert. Embryology, Epigenesis and Evolution: Taking Development Seriously. Cambridge University Press, 2004.
- M. Weber. Philosophy of Experimental Biology. Cambridge University Press, 2005.
- P. Beurton, R. Falk, and H.-J. Rheinberger, eds. The Concept of the Gene in Development and Evolution: Historical and Epistemological Perspectives. Cambridge University Press, 2000.
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗2026–2027
- PHIL 317: Philosophy of Biology · Reading-list link; contents not retrieved ↗
- 2025-Winter-PHIL-317-LECTURE-B01 ↗2025
- 2027-Winter-PHIL-317-LECTURE-B01 ↗2027
- Philosophy of Biology ↗2025
- Two required books; additional named books are report choices, not a requirement to read every title. Older Dawkins editions also acceptable. Document date Winter 2025 differs from archive label Winter 2027. Archive label: