Assistant Professor | Department of Philosophy | University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

 

Address: 831 Heller Hall | 271 19th Ave. S | Minneapolis, MN 55455-0310

 

Office: 754 Heller Hall | Tel: 612-625-4510 | Fax: 612-626-8380 | Email: aclove@umn.edu

 

 

AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION

Philosophy of Biology, Philosophy of Science, Biology

 

AREAS OF COMPETENCE

Darwin, History of Biology, Logic, Modern Philosophy/Science, Science and Religion

 

PRIOR ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT

Assistant Professor, Dept. of Philosophy, UC Santa Cruz: 2005-6

 

EDUCATION

Ph.D. - History and Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh - 2005

M.A. - Biology (Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior Program), Indiana University, Bloomington - 2004

M.A. - Philosophy, University of Pittsburgh - 2002

B.S. - Biology (Minor: Philosophy), M.I.T. - 1995

 

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

American Philosophical Association; History of Science Society; International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science; International Society for the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology; National Association of Biology Teachers; National Association of Scholars; Philosophy of Science Association; Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology; Society for the Philosophy of Science in Practice

 

INSTITUTIONAL AFFILIATIONS

Minnesota Center for Philosophy of Science (web) ; Studies of Science and Technology Program (web); Conceptual Foundations in Evolutionary Biology Interdisciplinary Graduate Group (web)

 

OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH

 

My research focuses on conceptual issues that arise in different areas of biological science. Much of my work (including my dissertation) has concentrated on the concepts of evolutionary innovation and novelty, which have been at the center of the research agenda articulated by many biologists situated in evolutionary developmental biology (Evo-devo). I am also interested in issues that arise in developmental biology and functional morphology. I use a combination of approaches to investigate a variety of philosophical questions: conceptual change, explanatory pluralism, the structure of evolutionary theory, reductionism, the nature of historical science, and interdisciplinary epistemology. Another area of interest concerns methodological questions, such as the role of history in philosophical research and the nature of intuitions generated by thought experiments in philosophical inquiry.

 

QUOTABLES...

 

“When asking questions of nature, at whatever level, the framing of the question is of the utmost importance, because the answer, if any, will be in the same terms as the question” (N.J. Berrill)

 

“It is fair to say that, in general, no problems have been exhausted; instead, men have been exhausted by the problems. … there are no small problems.  Problems that appear small are large problems that have not been understood” (Santiago Ramón y Cajal)

 

METAZOAN EXPLORATIONS