Selection Theory and Social Construction

The Evolutionary Naturalistic Epistemology of Donald T. Campbell

Edited by Cecilia Heyes & David L. Hull

Subjects: Epistemology
Series: SUNY series in Philosophy and Biology
Paperback : 9780791450567, 206 pages, July 2001
Hardcover : 9780791450550, 206 pages, August 2001

Alternative formats available from:

Table of contents

1. Introduction
Cecilia Heyes

2. Universal Selection Theory and the Complementarity of Different Types of Blind Variation and Selective Retention
Gary A. Cziko

3. The Metaphysical Foundation of Campbell's Selectionist Epistemology
Michael Bradie

4. Critical Hypothetical Naturalism
Ronald N. Giere

5. On Being a Philosophical Naturalist
Michael Ruse

6. Nested Hierarchies of Vicarious Selectors
Kyung-Man Kim

7. Social Constructions and Evolution
Henry Plotkin

8. Natural Tensions: Realism and Contructivism
Linnda R. Caporael

9. In Search of Epistemological Warrant
David L. Hull

References

Contributors

Index

Top scholars examine the work of Donald T. Campbell, one of the first to emphasize the social structure of science.

Description

In his long career, Donald T. Campbell made important contributions to social psychology, anthropology, sociology, education, science studies, and epistemology. In this anthology, the authors concentrate on his epistemology, in particular his evolutionary, naturalistic epistemology. The four philosophers, two psychologists, a sociologist, and specialists in science studies and education discuss Campbell's contributions, explaining and criticizing them in a comprehensive way. Campbell and his ideas are treated in a strikingly new light—Campbell enters the new millennium.

Cecilia Heyes is a Reader in Psychology at University College London and coeditor (with Ludwig Huber) of The Evolution of Cognition. David L. Hull is Professor of Philosophy at Northwestern University and the author of many books, including most recently Science and Selection: Essays on Biological Evolution and the Philosophy of Science.

Reviews

"The contributors to this volume are distinguished in their fields, all had close professional and personal connections with Donald Campbell, and they represent the breadth of fields in which Campbell had influence." — Bonnie Paller, California State University, Northridge

"This book will be of interest to evolutionary epistemologists, social epistemologists, and naturalists." — Robert J. Richards, author of The Meaning of Evolution: The Morphological Construction and Ideological Reconstruction of Darwin's Theory