Lecture 2 Sept. 1

Philosophical bases of Biology

(1) Nature is understandable and predictable. It is not fickle, or capricious, or whimsical etc.

(2) Nature is a reality independent of our wishes , beliefs, or culture.

(3) We can learn, however imperfectly, truths about this reality.

Criticisms of Biology

(1) Moral—Biology is manipulative of nature, more strongly, a rape of mother nature.

(2) Marxist—There is no objective reality or truth independent of a particular social, cultural context. Biology simply encodes and justifies prevailing beliefs and practices.

(3) Feminist—The practice of Biology is deeply flawed in terms of the choices of problems to study, the methodologies employed, and the interpretations generated because of the overwhelming “maleness” of the scientists.