Books
(2006). Exceeding Our Grasp: Science, History, and the Problem of Unconceived Alternatives. New York: Oxford University Press.
Reviewed in Science, Philosophy of Science, Mind, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, British Journal for the History of Science, Isis, Biology and Philosophy, History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences, International Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Review of Metaphysics, Choice, Skeptical Inquirer.
Articles
- (1995). “For Pluralism and Against Realism About Species”, Philosophy of Science 62: 70-91.
- (1998). “Reference and Natural Kind Terms: The Real Essence of Locke’s View”, Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 79: 78-97.
- Reprinted in Peter R. Anstey, ed., John Locke: Critical Assessments of Leading Philosophers, 4 vols. Abingdon: Routledge, 2006.
- (2000; lead author, with Philip Kitcher). “Refining the Causal Theory of Reference for Natural Kind Terms”, Philosophical Studies 97: 99-129.
- (2000). “An Antirealist Explanation of the Success of Science”, Philosophy of Science 67: 266-284.
- (2001). “Refusing the Devil’s Bargain: What Kind of Underdetermination Should We Take Seriously?”, Philosophy of Science 68 (Proceedings): S1-S12.
- (2001). “The Units of Selection and the Causal Structure of the World”, Erkenntnis 54: 215-233.
- (2002). “The Manifest Connection: Causation, Meaning and David Hume”, Journal of the History of Philosophy 40: 339-360.
- (2003). “No Refuge for Realism: Selective Confirmation and the History of Science”, Philosophy of Science 70: 913-925.
- (2003). “Pyrrhic Victories for Scientific Realism”, Journal of Philosophy 100: 553-572.
- (2005). “August Weismann’s Theory of the Germ-Plasm and the Problem of Unconceived Alternatives”, History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 27: 163-199.
- (2006). “Francis Galton’s Stirp Theory of Inheritance and the Problem of Unconceived Alternatives”, Biology and Philosophy 21: 523-536.
- (2006). “Darwin’s Pangenesis and the Problem of Unconceived Alternatives”, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 57: 121-144.
- (2009). “Scientific Realism, the Atomic Theory, and the Catch-All Hypothesis: Can We Test Fundamental Theories Against All Serious Alternatives?”, British Journal For The Philosophy of Science 60: 253-269.
- (2009). “Grasping at Realist Straws: Author’s Response” from Syposium Review of Exceeding Our Grasp: Science, History, and the Problem of Unconceived Alternatives (New York, Oxford University Press, 2006), Metascience.
- (2010). “Getting Real: The Hypothesis of Organic Fossil Origins”, Modern Schoolman 87: 219-243.
- (2011). “Damn the Consequences: Projective Evidence and the Heterogeneity of Scientific Confirmation”, Philosophy of Science 78: 887-899.
- (2012). “The Eyes Don’t Have It: Fracturing the Scientific and Manifest Images”, Humana.Mente 21: 19-44.
- (2012, with Cailin O’Connor, Nathan Fulton, and Elliott Wagner). “Deus ex Machina: A Cautionary Tale for Naturalists”, Analyse & Kritik 34: 51-62.
- (2015). “Catastrophism, Uniformitarianism, and a Realism Debate That Makes a Difference”, Philosophy of Science 82: 867-878.
- (2015). “Unconceived Alternatives and Conservatism in Science: The Impact of Professionalization, Peer-Review, and Big Science”, Synthese, doi: 10.1007/s11229-015-0856-4.
- (2015). “‘Atoms Exist’ is Probably True, and Other Facts That Should Not Comfort Scientific Realists”, Journal of Philosophy 112: 397-416.
- (2016, with A.J. Thomas and B.W. Sarnecka). “No Child Left Alone: Moral Judgments About Parents Affect Estimates of Risk to Children”, Collabra 2: 10, doi: http://doi.org/10.1525/collabra.33.
- (2017). “Bending Towards Justice: Essay Review of Michael Tomasello’s A Natural History of Human Morality, Philosophy of Science 84: 369-376.
- (forthcoming) “A Fond Farewell to ‘Approximate Truth’, Spontaneous Generations.
- (2018), “The Difference Between Ice Cream and Nazis: Moral Externalization and the Evolution of Human Cooperation”, Behavioral and Brain Sciences (Target Article), 41, E95. Doi:10.1017/S0140525X17001911.
Book Chapters
(2014). “Reading Nature: The Interpretation of Scientific Theories”, in Larry Sklar, ed., The Oxford Handbook of the Philosophy of Science (2014). “Reading Nature: Realist, Instrumentalist, and Quietist Interpretations of Scientific Theories”, in Larry Sklar, ed., Physical Theory: Method and Interpretation, Ch. 4. New York: Oxford UP, 94-126.
(2016). “Instrumentalism: Global, Local, and Epistemic”, in Paul Humphreys, ed., The Oxford Handbook of the Philosophy of Science, Ch. 15. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 318-336.
(2016). “Naturalism Without Scientism”, in Kelly James Clark, ed., The Blackwell Companion to Naturalism, Ch. 7. New York: Wiley-Blackwell, 91-108.
(2017). “So Long and Thanks For All the Fish”, in Matthew Slater and Zanja Yudell (eds.) Metaphysics and the Philosophy of Science, Oxford University Press: Ch. 6.
(forthcoming). “Unconceived Alternatives and the Strategy of Historical Ostension”,” in The Routledge Handbook of Scientific Realism, Juha Saatsi, ed., Routledge, Ch. 17.
Encyclopedia Articles
(2006). “Instrumentalism” in The Philosophy of Science: An Encyclopedia, ed. Sahotra Sarkar and Jessica Pfeifer. New York: Routledge (3000 wds).
(2006, with Jeff Barrett). “Prediction” in The Philosophy of Science: An Encyclopedia, ed. Sahotra Sarkar and Jessica Pfeifer. New York: Routledge (7000 wds).
(2009). “Underdetermination of Scientific Theories” in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ed. Edward N. Zalta, http://plato.stanford.edu/, Revised (9/13).
Book Reviews
(1999). “Preaching to the Choir? Robert Klee and the Latest Face of Scientific Realism” (Essay Review of Klee’s Cutting Nature at its Seams: Introduction to the Philosophy of Science), Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science 30: 367-375.
(2001). Review of Elliott Sober and David Sloan Wilson’s Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior. Journal of Philosophy 98: 43-47.
(2008). Review of Hanne Anderson, Peter Barker, and Xiang Chen, The Cognitive Structure of Scientific Revolutions, British Journal of the History of Science 41: 116-117.
(2010, with Katherine Hawley, Paul Humphreys, James Ladyman, and Donald Ross) “Protecting Rainforest Realism”, Symposium Review of James Ladyman and Donald Ross, Everything Must Go: Metaphysics Naturalized (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), Metascience 19: 161-185.