John Beatty

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Books

Gigerenzer, Gerd, Zeno Swijtink, Theodore Porter, Lorraine Daston, John Beatty and Lorenz Krüger. 1989. The Empire of Chance: How Probability Changed Science and Everyday Life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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Edited Books

Singh, Rama S., Costas B. Krimbas, Diane B. Paul and John Beatty (eds.). 2000. Thinking about Evolution: Historical, Philosophical and Political Perspectives, a Festschrift for Richard C. Lewontin. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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Books in Progress

Genetics in the Atomic Age. The history of genetics and population genetics in the U.S. in the 1940s-1980s, in the context of the atomic age and the Cold War. Under contract with Harvard University Press.

Evolution as Parable: Charles Kingsley and Water Babies. An account of the interrelated evolutionary, theological and social dimensions of the classic Victorian fairy tale. In collaboration with Piers Hale.

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Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Mills, Susan B. and John Beatty. 1979. "The Propensity Interpretation of Fitness." Philosophy of Science 46: 263-286. Reprinted in E. Sober (ed.). 1993. Conceptual Issues in Evolutionary Biology. Cambridge: MIT Press.

Beatty, John. 1979. "Elliott Sober's Simplicity" (an essay review). Systematic Zoology 28: 643-651.

Beatty, John. 1980. "Optimal-Design Models and the Strategy of Model Building in Evolutionary Biology." Philosophy of Science 47: 532-561.

Beatty, John. 1981. "Garland Allen's Life Science in the Twentieth Century" (an essay review). Annals of Science 38: 207-216.

Beatty, John. 1982. "What's Wrong with the Received View of Evolutionary Biology?" In P.D. Asquith and R.N. Giere (eds.), PSA 1980, Proceedings of the 1980 Biennial Meetings of the Philosophy of Science Association, Volume 2. East Lansing, Michigan: Philosophy of Science Association.

Beatty, John. 1982. "What's in a Word? Coming to Terms in the Darwinian Revolution." Journal of the History of Biology 15: 215-239. Also in M. Ruse (ed.). 1983. Nature Animated, Proceedings of the Third International Congress of History and Philosophy of Science. Dordrecht: Reidel.

Beatty, John. 1982. "Classes and Cladists." Systematic Zoology 31: 25-34.

Beatty, John. 1982. "The Insights and Oversights of Molecular Genetics: The Place of the Evolutionary Perspective." In P.D. Asquith and T. Nickles (eds.), PSA 1982, Proceedings of the 1982 Biennial Meetings of the Philosophy of Science Association, Volume 1. East Lansing, Michigan: Philosophy of Science Association. Reprinted in M. Ruse (ed.). 1989. Philosophy of Biology. New York: Macmillan.

Beatty, John. 1983. "Rationality: Putting the Issue to the Scientific Community" (a reply to D. Dennett's "Intentional Systems in Cognitive Ethology: The Panglossian Paradigm Defended"). The Behavioral and Brain Sciences 6: 355-356.

Beatty, John. 1984. "Chance and Natural Selection." Philosophy of Science 51: 183-211. pdf 1.47 mb.

Brandon, Robert and John Beatty. 1984. "The Propensity Interpretation of Fitness: No Interpretation is No Substitute." Philosophy of Science 51: 342-357.

Beatty, John. 1986. "Speaking of Species: Darwin's Strategy." In D. Kohn (ed.), Darwin's Heritage: A Centennial Retrospect. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Reprinted in M. Ereshevsky (ed.). 1992. Units of Evolution: Essays on the Nature of Species. Cambridge: MIT Press. pdf 976 kb.

Beatty, John. 1986. "Pluralism and Panselectionism." In P.D. Asquith and P. Kitcher (eds.), PSA 1984, Proceedings of the Biennial Meetings of the Philosophy of Science Association, Volume 2. East Lansing, Michigan: Philosophy of Science Association.

Beatty, John. 1986. "The Synthesis and the Synthetic Theory." In W. Bechtel (ed.), Integrating Scientific Disciplines. Dordrecht: Nijhoff.

Collins, James B., John Beatty and Jane Maienschein. 1986. "Introduction: Between Ecology and Evolutionary Biology" (introduction to a special journal issue, edited by the three of us, on the topic of historical connections between evolutionary biology and ecology). Journal of the History of Biology 19: 169-180.

Beatty, John. 1987. "Natural Selection and the Null Hypothesis." In J. Dupré (ed.), The Latest on the Best: Essays on Evolution and Optimality. Cambridge: MIT Press.

Beatty, John. 1987. "Dobzhansky and Drift: Facts, Values, and Chance in Evolutionary Biology." In L. Krüger et al. (eds.), The Probabilistic Revolution, Volume 2. Cambridge: MIT Press. pdf 2.1 mb.

Beatty, John. 1987. "Weighing the Risks: Stalemate in the Classical/Balance Controversy." Journal of the History of Biology 20: 289-319.

Beatty, John. 1987. "On Behalf of the Semantic View" (a reply to P. Sloep and W. van der Steen's "Evolutionary Biology and the Semantic View of Theories"). Biology and Philosophy 2: 17-23.

Beatty, John. 1988. "Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in the War and Postwar Years: Comments and Questions." Journal of the History of Biology 21: 245-263.

Beatty, John. 1988. "The Wright Stuff" (an essay review of W. Provine's Sewall Wright and Evolutionary Biology). Biology and Philosophy 3: 275-283.

Beatty, John and Susan Finsen. 1989. "Rethinking the Propensity Interpretation of Fitness: A Peek Inside Pandora's Box." In M. Ruse (ed.), What the Philosophy of Biology Is Today: Essays for David Hull. Dordrecht: Kluwer. pdf 550 kb.

Beatty, John. 1990. "Evolutionary Anti-Reductionism: Historical Considerations." Biology and Philosophy 5: 199-210.

Beatty, John. 1990. "Teleology and the Relationship of Biology to the Physical Sciences in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries." In F. Durham and R. Purrington (eds.), Newton's Legacy: The Origins and Influence of Newtonian Science. New York: Columbia University Press. pdf 1.5 mb.

Beatty, John. 1991. "Genetics in the Atomic Age: The Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission, 1947-1957." In K. Benson, R. Rainger, and J. Maienschein (eds.), The American Expansion of Biology. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

Beatty, John. 1992. "Fitness." In E. Keller and L. Lloyd (eds.), Keywords in Evolutionary Biology. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Beatty, John. 1992. "Random Drift." In E. Keller and L. Lloyd (eds.), Keywords in Evolutionary Biology. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Beatty, John. 1992. "Julian Huxley and the Evolutionary Synthesis." Julian Huxley: Biologist and Statesman of Science. Houston: Rice University Press.

Beatty, John. 1993. "Scientific Collaboration, Internationalism, and Diplomacy: The Case of the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission." Journal of the History of Biology 26: 205-231. Reprinted in M. Low (ed.). In press. Science, Technology and R&D in Japan, Vol. 2 (of 3). London: Routledge.

Beatty, John and Elizabeth Sandager. 1993. "Documenting the Human Genome Project: Challenges and Opportunities." The Mendel Newsletter new series 1: 1-9.

Beatty, John. 1994. "Theoretical Pluralism in Biology, Including Systematics." In O. Rieppel (ed.), Interpreting the Hierarchy of Nature, 1992 Spring Systematics Symposium of the Field Museum of Natural History. New York: Academic Press.

Beatty, John. 1994. "Dobzhansky and the Biology of Democracy: The Moral and Political Significance of Genetic Variation." In M. Adams (ed.), The Evolution of Theodosius Dobzhansky. Princeton: Princeton University Press. pdf 864 kb.

Beatty, John. 1994. "The Proximate/Ultimate Distinction in the Multiple Careers of Ernst Mayr." Biology and Philosophy 9: 333-356. pdf 442 kb.

Beatty, John. 1995. "The Evolutionary Contingency Thesis." In Gereon Wolters and James G. Lennox (eds.), Concepts, Theories, and Rationality in the Biological Sciences, The Second Pittsburgh-Konstanz Colloquium in the Philosophy of Science. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. pdf 420 kb. Reprinted in E. Sober (ed.). In press. Conceptual Issues in Evolutionary Biology. Cambridge: MIT Press.

Beatty, John. 1997. "Why Do Biologists Argue Like They Do?" Philosophy of Science S64: 231-242. pdf 656 kb.

Beatty, John. 2000. "Origins of the U.S. Human Genome Project: Changing Relationships between Genetics and National Security." In P. Sloan (ed.), Controlling Our Destinies: The Human Genome Project from Historical, Philosophical, Social and Ethical Perspectives. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.

Paul, Diane B. and John Beatty. 2000. "James Neel, Darkness in El Dorado, and Eugenics: The Missing Context." Society for Latin American Anthropology Newsletter, number 17 (also available at http://www.aaanet.org/slaa/newsletter.htm).

Beatty, John and Diane B. Paul. 2001. "Introduction." In Rama Singh, Costas Krimbas , Diane Paul and John Beatty (eds.), Thinking about Evolution: Historical, Philosophical and Political Perspectives. A Festschrift for Richard C. Lewontin. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
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Beatty, John. 2001. "Historical Determinism, Evolution and Totalitarianism in the Works of Hannah Arendt and Karl Popper." In Rama Singh, Costas Krimbas , Diane Paul and John Beatty (eds.), Thinking about Evolution: Historical, Philosophical and Political Perspectives. A Festschrift for Richard C. Lewontin. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Lewontin, Richard C., Diane B. Paul, John Beatty and Costas B. Krimbas. 2001. "Interview of Richard C. Lewontin." In Rama Singh, Costas Krimbas , Diane Paul and John Beatty (eds.), Thinking about Evolution: Historical, Philosophical and Political Perspectives. A Festschrift for Richard C. Lewontin. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Beatty, John. 2002. "The Historicity of Nature." In Lewis E. Hahn (ed.), The Philosophy of Marjorie Grene. Library of Living Philosophers. LaSalle, Illinois: Open Court.

Beatty, John. 2002. "Untangling the McClintock Myths" (an essay review of N.C.Comfort’s The Tangled Field: Barbara McClintock’s Search for the Patterns of Genetic Control). Metascience 11: 280-305.

Beatty, John. 2006. "Replaying Life's Tape. Journal of Philosophy 103: 336-362. pdf 902 kb.

 Beatty, John. 2006. "Masking Disagreement among Scientific Experts." Episteme 3: 52-67. pdf 212 kb.

Beatty, John. in press. "Chance Variation: Darwin on Orchids." Philosophy of Science. pdf 154 kb.

Beatty, John. in press. "Chance Variation and Evolutionary Contingency: Darwin, Simpson (The Simpsons) and Gould." In Michael Ruse (ed.), Oxford Handbook of the Philosophy of Biology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pdf 1 mb.

Beatty, John. forthcoming. "Theodosius Dobzhansky." In Michael Ruse and Joseph Travis (eds.), Harvard Companion to Evolution. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. doc 31 kb.

Beatty, John. forthcoming. "Richard Lewontin." In Michael Ruse and Joseph Travis (eds.), Harvard Companion to Evolution. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. doc 30 kb.

Beatty, John and Eric Cyr Desjardins. forthcoming. "Natural Selection and History." Biology and Philosophy.

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Articles in Progress

"Karl Popper, Darwinism and Totalitarianism." An attempt to make sense of Popper's changing attitudes toward Darwinism by considering them in the context of developments in biology and politics, and in connection with Popper's political philosophy, and by comparing Popper with some of his contemporaries, like Hannah Arendt and Friedrich von Hayek.