Updates to this page are ongoing. Please send additions, suggestions, and corrections to Roberta Millstein at
RLMillstein@ucdavis.edu
Reference works useful for the history and philosophy of biology
- The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online - Fully searchable, this site contains Darwin's complete
publications, many handwritten manuscripts and the largest Darwin bibliography and manuscript catalogue ever published.
There are over 160 ancillary texts, from reference works to reviews, obituaries, recollections and more.
- Historical figures:
- General history resources:
- Biology resources:
- 20 classic papers in evolution - from Mark Ridley's Evolution website
- A Companion to Developmental Biology, Eighth Edition, a textbook by Scott F. Gilbert
- The Embryo Project Encyclopedia
- Evolution, Third Edition, a textbook by Mark Ridley
- Faculty of 1000 Biology - online research service that highlights and reviews
papers published in the biological sciences, based on the recommendations of over 2300 faculty.
- Five Major Misconceptions about Evolution
- Perspectives on Molecular Evolution
- Population Biology, Evolution & Biomath Educational Index - Internet
Guide to Education-oriented Resources for Population Genetics, Population Ecology, Evolution, and Biomathematics
- Tree of Life Project - A collaborative effort of biologists from around the world to provide
information about the diversity of organisms on Earth, their evolutionary history (phylogeny), and characteristics.
- Relevant entries from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:
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Books in the history and philosophy of biology
As soon as I started this list, I realized what an insane endeavor it was. So, this list is woefully
incomplete. Please don't hesitate to contact me to recommend your
favorite book (or your book).
Textbooks
- Philosophy Of Biology, Second Edition, by Elliott Sober, Westview Press
- Philosophy of Biology, by Brian Garvey, McGill-Queen's University Press
- Philosophy of Biology: A Contemporary Introduction, by Alex Rosenberg and Daniel W. McShea, Routledge
- Sex and Death: An Introduction to Philosophy of Biology, by Kim Sterelny and Paul E. Griffiths, U of Chicago Press
Anthologies
- Conceptual Issues in Evolutionary Biology, 3rd Edition, by Elliott Sober, Bradford Books
- Descended from
Darwin: Insights into the History of Evolutionary Studies, 1900-1970, by Joe Cain and Michael Ruse, eds., American
Philosophical Society (full text available online)
- Keywords in Evolutionary Biology, by Evelyn Fox Keller and Elisabeth A. Lloyd (eds.), Harvard U Press
- Philosophy of Biology, Second Edition, by Michael Ruse (ed.), Prometheus Books
- The Cambridge Companion to the Philosophy of Biology, by David L. Hull and Michael Ruse (eds.), Cambridge U Press
- The Philosophy of Biology, by David L. Hull and Michael Ruse (eds), Oxford U Press
Cambridge Studies in Philosophy and Biology (Cambridge U Press, Michael Ruse (General Editor))
- Adaptationism and Optimality, by Steven Hecht Orzack and Elliott Sober
- Aristotle's Philosophy of Biology: Studies in the Origins of Life Science, by James G. Lennox
- Biodiversity and Environmental Philosophy: An Introduction, by Sahotra Sarkar
- Biological Complexity and Integrative Pluralism, by Sandra D. Mitchell
- Biological Individuality: The Identity and Persistence of Living Entities, by Jack Wilson
- Biology and Epistemology, by Richard Creath and Jane Maienschein
- Biology and the Foundations of Ethics, by Jane Maienschein and Michael Ruse
- Complexity and the Function of Mind in Nature, by Peter Godfrey-Smith
- Concepts and Methods in Evolutionary Biology, by Robert N. Brandon
- Darwinism in Philosophy, Social Science and Policy, by Alexander Rosenberg
- Darwinism's Struggle for Survival: Heredity and the Hypothesis of Natural Selection, by Jean Gayon
- Discovering Cell Mechanisms: The Creation of Modern Cell Biology, by William Bechtel
- Embryology, Epigenesis and Evolution: Taking Development Seriously, by Jason Scott Robert
- Evolutionary Ethics and Contemporary Biology, by Giovanni Boniolo and Gabriele De Anna
- From a Biological Point of View: Essays in Evolutionary Philosophy, by Elliott Sober
- Genetics and Reductionism, by Sahotra Sarkar
- Information and Meaning in Evolutionary Processes, by William F. Harms
- Making Prehistory: Historical Science and the Scientific Realism Debate, by Derek Turner
- Making Sense of Heritability, by Neven Sesardic
- Natural Kinds and Conceptual Change, by Joseph LaPorte
- Philosophy and Biodiversity, by Markku Oksanen and Juhani Pietarinen
- Philosophy of Experimental Biology, by Marcel Weber
- Reasoning in Biological Discoveries: Essays on Mechanisms, Interfield Relations, and Anomaly Resolution, by Lindley Darden
- Science and Selection: Essays on Biological Evolution and the Philosophy of Science, by David L. Hull
- Science, Politics, and Evolution, by Elisabeth A. Lloyd
- Searching for Sustainability: Interdisciplinary Essays in the Philosophy of Conservation Biology, by Bryan G. Norton
- The Biology and Psychology of Moral Agency, by William Andrew Rottschaefer
- The Changing Role of the Embryo in Evolutionary Thought: Roots of Evo-Devo, by Ron Amundson
- The Concept of the Gene in Development and Evolution: Historical and Epistemological Perspectives, by Peter J. Beurton, Raphael Falk, and Hans-Jörg Rheinberger
- The Epistemology of Development, Evolution, and Genetics, by Richard Burian
- The Evolution of Agency and Other Essays, by Kim Sterelny
- The Evolution of Reason: Logic as a Branch of Biology, by William S. Cooper
- The Poverty of the Linnaean Hierarchy: A Philosophical Study of Biological Taxonomy, by Marc Ereshefsky
- The Problem of Animal Generation in Early Modern Philosophy, by Justin E. H. Smith
- The Science of the Struggle for Existence: On the Foundations of Ecology, by Gregory J. Cooper
- What Functions Explain: Functional Explanation and Self-Reproducing Systems, by Peter McLaughlin
Monographs
- A Feeling for the Organism: The Life and Work of Barbara McClintock, by Evelyn Fox Keller, W. H. Freeman
- Adaptation and Environment, by Robert N. Brandon, Princeton U Press
- The Case of the Female Orgasm: Bias in the Science of Evolution, by Elisabeth A. Lloyd, Harvard U Press
- The Century of the Gene, by Evelyn Fox Keller, Harvard U Press
- Charles Darwin: Voyaging, by E. Janet Browne, Princeton University Press
- Darwin: The Life of a Tormented Evolutionist, by Adrian Desmond, W. W. Norton & Company
- Darwinian Reductionism: Or, How to Stop Worrying and Love Molecular Biology, by Alex Rosenberg, U of Chicago Press
- The Darwinian Revolution: Science Red in Tooth and Claw, by Michael Ruse, U of Chicago Press
- Instrumental Biology, or The Disunity of Science, by Alex Rosenberg, U of Chicago Press
- Making Sense of Evolution: The Conceptual Foundations of Evolutionary Biology, by Massimo Pigliucci and Jonathan Kaplan, U of Chicago Press
- Making Sense of Life: Explaining Biological Development with Models, Metaphors, and Machines, by Evelyn Fox Keller, Harvard U Press
- The Nature of Selection: Evolutionary Theory in Philosophical Focus, by Elliott Sober, U of Chicago Press
- The Origins of Theoretical Population Genetics, by William B. Provine, U of Chicago Press
- Philosophy of Biological Science, by David L. Hull, Prentice Hall
- Re-Engineering Philosophy for Limited Beings: Piecewise Approximations to Reality, by William C. Wimsatt, Harvard University Press
- Sewall Wright and Evolutionary Biology, by William B. Provine, U of Chicago Press
- Species: A History of the Idea: Species and Systematics, by John S. Wilkins, University of California Press
- The Structure and Confirmation of Evolutionary Theory, by Elisabeth A. Lloyd, Princeton U Press
- Unifying Biology: The Evolutionary Synthesis and Evolutionary Biology, by Vassiliki Betty Smocovitis, Princeton U Press
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