One of the questions that have plagued my insomniac nights over the past decade or so is what makes something interesting. There are many proposals.…
The post Of Interest appeared first on Evolving Thoughts.
Category Archives: Logic and philosophy
Posted by in Epistemology, Logic and philosophy, Philosophy, science, Theories
50 words for snow, or conceptual confusion
In a well-known and generally debunked story, Inuit people have around 50 words for snow. Or so the argument by anthropologist Franz Boas goes. In fact, people who engage with the phenomena of their environments often make distinctions that those who rarely or never engage in the same way with those phenomena don’t. Snow is Read More...
Whately on species
Given the mythology that species were defined by essences prior to Darwin found in nearly every textbook, I find this passage, published in 1826 by Archbishop Richard Whately (1787–1863), first in the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana (a project initially proposed by Coleridge) and then as a separate textbook, very telling. Whately was Archbishop of Dublin in the Read More...
Posted by in history, Logic and philosophy, Species and systematics, Species concept
Genes – the language of God 3: Why genes aren’t information
Genes – the language of God 0: Preface Genes – the language of God 1: Genes as Language Genes – the language of God 2: Other popular gene myths and metaphors Genes – the language of God 3: Why genes aren’t information Genes – the language of God 4: Why genes aren’t a language Genes […]
Posted by in Biology, Evolution, genetics, Logic and philosophy, Philosophy, science
Begging that damned question
Something that bugs the hell out of me, literally, is the misuse of English. Of course, I was trained as a subeditor in the days when such things mattered even to journalists, so I am a fossilised dinosaur in this respect. I even try to use adverbs correctly. One thing that literally makes my head […]
Posted by in Humor, Logic and philosophy, Rant