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This volume provides a broad overview of issues in the philosophy of behavioral biology, covering four main themes: genetic, developmental, evolutionary, and neurobiological explanations of behavior. It is both interdisciplinary and empirically informed in its approach, addressing philosophical issues that arise from recent scientific findings in biological research on human and non-human animal behavior. Accordingly, it includes papers by professional philosophers and philosophers of science, as well as practicing scientists. Much of the work in this volume builds on presentations given at the international conference, "Biological Explanations of Behavior: Philosophical Perspectives", held in 2008 at the Leibniz Universität Hannover in Germany. The volume is intended to be of interest to a broad range of audiences, which includes philosophers (e.g., philosophers of mind, philosophers of biology, and metaethicists), as well as practicing scientists, such as biologists or psychologists whose interests relate to biological explanations of behavior.
List of contents
Contributors.- Part I: Introduction.- 1. The Philosophy of Behavioral Biology,Kathryn S. Plaisance and Thomas A.C. Reydon.- 2. Knowledge for What? Monist, Pluralist, Pragmatist Approaches to the Sciences of Behavior, Helen Longino.- Part II: Genetic Explanations of Behavior.- 3. Genome Wide Association Studies of Behavior are Social Science, Eric Turkheimer.- 4. Genetic Traits and Causal Explanation, Robert Northcott.- Part III: Developmental Explanations of Behavior.-5. From Cell-Surface Receptors to Higher Learning: A Whole World of Experience, Karola Stotz and Colin Allen.- 6. Re-Conceiving Nonhuman Animal Knowledge Through Contemporary Primate Cognitive Studies, Andrew Fenton.-Part IV: Evolutionary Explanations of Behavior.-7. Evolving the Future: Sketching a Science of Intentional Change, David Sloan Wilson.- 8. Human Artistic Behaviour: Adaptation, Byproduct, or Cultural Group Selection?, Johan De Smedt and Helen De Cruz.- 9. Sensory Exploitation: Underestimated in the Evolution of Art As Once in Sexual Selection Theory?, Jan Verpooten and Mark Nelissen.- 10. Heuristic Evolutionary Psychology, Armin W. Schulz.- 11. Evolutionary Psychology and the Problem of Neural Plasticity,- Chuck Ward.- 12. Free Will, Compatibilism, And the Human Nature Wars: Should We Be Worried?, Brian Garvey.- 13. Altruistic Emotional Motivation: An Argument in Favour of Psychological Altruism, Christine Clavien.- 14. The Neurobiology of Altruistic Punishment: A Moral Assessment of its Social Utility, Rebekka A. Klein. - Part V: Neurobiological Explanations of Behavior.-15. Behavioral Traits, the Intentional Stance, and Biological Functions: What Neuroscience Explains, Marcel Weber.-16. From Reactive to Endogenously Active Dynamical Conceptions of the Brain, Adele Abrahamsen and William Bechtel.
Summary
This volume provides a broad overview of issues in the philosophy of behavioral biology, covering four main themes: genetic, developmental, evolutionary, and neurobiological explanations of behavior. It is both interdisciplinary and empirically informed in its approach, addressing philosophical issues that arise from recent scientific findings in biological research on human and non-human animal behavior. Accordingly, it includes papers by professional philosophers and philosophers of science, as well as practicing scientists. Much of the work in this volume builds on presentations given at the international conference, “Biological Explanations of Behavior: Philosophical Perspectives”, held in 2008 at the Leibniz Universität Hannover in Germany. The volume is intended to be of interest to a broad range of audiences, which includes philosophers (e.g., philosophers of mind, philosophers of biology, and metaethicists), as well as practicing scientists, such as biologists or psychologists whose interests relate to biological explanations of behavior.
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From the reviews:
“It is a worthy read for anyone working in the field, as a reminder of the diversity of what goes on in philosophy of biology. … It is good for philosophy students to encounter still-in-development versions of philosophical projects in order to gain a sense of how philosophical projects develop. … represents a worthy contribution to the field and would make a reasonable choice, in terms of content and presentation, for a text for a graduate seminar or upper level undergraduate course … .” (Michael Trestman, Metascience, October, 2012)
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From the reviews:
"It is a worthy read for anyone working in the field, as a reminder of the diversity of what goes on in philosophy of biology. ... It is good for philosophy students to encounter still-in-development versions of philosophical projects in order to gain a sense of how philosophical projects develop. ... represents a worthy contribution to the field and would make a reasonable choice, in terms of content and presentation, for a text for a graduate seminar or upper level undergraduate course ... ." (Michael Trestman, Metascience, October, 2012)
