Research Products

Our group creates a wide variety of research products, including academic books and papers, materials for public audiences, and our blog. We also give talks to groups of specialists and the public, worldwide, and produce widely used open-source software. Check it all out below.

Note that as a group, we discourage the posting of our work on for-profit sites like Academia.edu or ResearchGate. All our articles can instead both be found here and at a variety of other open-access preprint archives.

Pence, C.H. Under contract [2022/23]. Breadth: Explanatory Virtues in the Life Sciences [working title]. Cham: Springer.

A study of explanation in the life sciences, combining a theoretical treatment of breadth – an often overlooked explanatory virtue – with a number of case studies.

Pence, C.H. Under contract [2021/22]. The Rise of Chance in Evolutionary Theory: A Pompous Parade of Arithmetic. New York: Academic Press / Elsevier.

A discussion of the development of concepts of chance and the tools of statistics in evolutionary theory, from 1830–1930.

Pence, C.H. Under contract [2021]. The Causal Structure of Natural Selection. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

An opinionated introduction to the debate over the causal structure of natural selection, statistics, and probability, a part of Cambridge’s Elements series.

Pence, C.H. and Rivelli, L., eds. Forthcoming. Topical Collection of Synthese: Digital Studies of Digital Science. Springer.

A special issue of the journal Synthese containing, among others, papers from the DS² 2021 conference.

Lean, O.M., Rivelli, L., & Pence, C.H. Forthcoming. “Digital Literature Analysis for Empirical Philosophy of Science.” British Journal for the Philosophy of Science.

How can the empirical analysis of the scientific literature still be useful in the context of empirical philosophy of scientific practice? We explore various facets of that question here.

PhilSci-Archive

Pence, C.H. In press. “How Not to Fight About Theory: The Debate Between Biometry and Mendelism in Nature, 1890–1915.” In The Dynamics of Science: Computational Frontiers in History and Philosophy of Science, Ramsey, G. & De Block, A., eds. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.

A book chapter looking at the network of discourse in debates over genetics in the correspondence pages of Nature at the turn of the twentieth century.

UCLouvain DIAL PhilSci-Archive

Pence, C.H. 2020. “[Review of] How Biology Shapes Philosophy, David Livingstone Smith.” BJPS Review of Books.

Reviewed work: Smith, D. L., ed. 2017. How Biology Shapes Philosophy: New Foundations for Naturalism. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press.

at the publisher UCLouvain DIAL

Pence, C.H. 2020. “[Review of] Evolutionary Causation: Biological and Philosophical Reflections. Vienna Series in Theoretical Biology edited by Tobias Uller and Kevin N. Laland.” The Quarterly Review of Biology 95 (2): 150–151.

Reviewed work: Uller, T. and Laland, K.N., eds. 2019. Evolutionary Causation: Biological and Philosophical Reflections. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

doi:10.1086/709062 UCLouvain DIAL PhilPapers

Pence, C.H. 2019. “Locating Uncertainty in Stochastic Evolutionary Models: Divergence Time Estimation.” Biology & Philosophy 34: 21.

A presentation of some contemporary results from divergence time estimation and their impact on interpretations of chance in the philosophy of biology.

doi:10.1007/s10539-019-9683-1 UCLouvain DIAL PhilPapers PhilSci-Archive

Pence, C.H. 2018. “[Review of] Buckets from an English Sea: 1832 and the Making of Charles Darwin by Louis B. Rosenblatt.” The Quarterly Review of Biology 93 (4): 356.

Reviewed work: Rosenblatt, L.B. 2018. Buckets from an English Sea: 1832 and the Making of Charles Darwin. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

doi:10.1086/700773 UCLouvain DIAL PhilPapers

Pence, C.H. & Ramsey, G.R. 2018. “How to Do Digital Philosophy of Science.” Philosophy of Science 85 (5): 930–941.

Based on a symposium at the 2016 PSA, Grant and I offer some tips for those interested in engaging in digital projects in the philosophy of science.

doi:10.1086/699697 UCLouvain DIAL PhilPapers PhilSci-Archive

Pence, C.H. 2018. “[Review of] Origins of Darwin’s Evolution: Solving the Species Puzzle Through Time and Place by J. David Archibald.” The Quarterly Review of Biology 93 (2): 128–129.

Reviewed work: Archibald, J.D. 2017. Origins of Darwin’s Evolution: Solving the Species Puzzle Through Time and Place. New York: Columbia University Press.

doi:10.1086/698027 UCLouvain DIAL PhilPapers

Pence, C.H. 2018. “Sir John F. W. Herschel and Charles Darwin: Nineteenth-Century Science and its Methodology.” HOPOS 8 (1): 108–140.

Darwin had many influences, but perhaps the most significant on the structure of the Origin was Sir John Herschel’s Preliminary Discourse. I explore the shape and nature of that influence here.

doi:10.1086/695719 UCLouvain DIAL PhilPapers PhilSci-Archive

Pence, C.H. & Swaim, D.G. 2018. “The Economy of Nature: The Structure of Evolution in Linnaeus, Darwin, and the Modern Synthesis.” European Journal for Philosophy of Science 8 (3): 435–454.

We consider the status of the economy of nature as a structuring concept in biological theory, from Darwin to the present, with reference to current debates over structural realism.

doi:10.1007/s13194-017-0194-0 UCLouvain DIAL PhilPapers PhilSci-Archive

Pence, C.H. 2017. “[Review of] Robert J. Richards and Michael Ruse, Debating Darwin.” HOPOS 7 (2): 397–400.

Reviewed work: Richards, R.J. & Ruse, M. 2016. Debating Darwin. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

doi:10.1086/693430 UCLouvain DIAL PhilPapers

Pence, C.H. 2017. “Is Genetic Drift a Force?.” Synthese 194 (6): 1967–1988.

A brief paper which considers two arguments against the tenability of considering genetic drift to be analogous to a Newtonian force – that drift lacks a specifiable direction, and that it is constitutive of all evolving systems, rather than an “external” force. In defense of the force metaphor, I find both these arguments to be problematic. ERRATUM: The Lewens (2010) citation should refer to “The Natures of Selection.”

doi:10.1007/s11229-016-1031-2 UCLouvain DIAL PhilPapers PhilSci-Archive

Mendelson, T.C., Fitzpatrick, C.L., Hauber, M.E., Pence, C.H., Rodriguez, R.L., Safran, R.J., Stern, C.A., & Stevens, J.R. 2016. “Cognitive Phenotypes and the Evolution of Animal Decisions.” Trends in Ecology and Evolution 31 (11): 850–859.

Work with a group of biologists, coordinated through the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center. Offers a new framework for understanding animal decisions which takes into account insights from human psychology. The figshare data here describes a textual analysis that was removed from the article in draft.

doi:10.1016/j.tree.2016.08.008 UCLouvain DIAL figshare

Ramsey, G. & Pence, C.H. 2016. “Chance in Evolution from Darwin to Contemporary Biology.” In Chance in Evolution, Ramsey, G. & Pence, C.H., eds. Chicago: University of Chicago Press , pp. 1–11.

The editors' introduction to our edited volume, covering the scope of the work and offering some thoughts on the taxonomy of chance in evolution.

doi:10.7208/chicago/9780226401911.001.0001 UCLouvain DIAL

Ramsey, G. & Pence, C.H., eds. 2016. Chance in Evolution. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

An edited volume with contributions from philosophers, historians, biologists, and theologians on the role of “chance” in evolutionary theory.

doi:10.7208/chicago/9780226401911.001.0001 ISBN: 978-0-226-40188-1 at the publisher UCLouvain DIAL Amazon Google Books PhilPapers

Ramsey, G. & Pence, C.H. 2016. “evoText: A New Tool for Analyzing the Biological Sciences.” Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 57: 83–87.

An application note introducing the evoText project, a text-mining tool for analyzing the biological journal literature.

doi:10.1016/j.shpsc.2016.04.003 UCLouvain DIAL PhilPapers figshare

Pence, C.H. 2016. “RLetters: A Web-Based Application for Text Analysis of Journal Articles.” PLoS ONE.

An application note introducing RLetters, a tool designed to allow the textual analysis of large journal article corpora.

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0146004 UCLouvain DIAL figshare

Pence, C.H. & Ramsey, G. 2015. “Is Organismic Fitness at the Basis of Evolutionary Theory?.” Philosophy of Science 82 (5): 1081–1091.

It is often claimed (e.g., in a recent article by Sober (2013)) that trait fitness is where the genuine “action” can be found in evolutionary theory, and that individual fitness is theoretically secondary. We clarify this relationship by distinguishing two roles that fitness plays in biology, and arguing that individual fitness lies at the conceptual foundation of ascriptions of the fitness of traits.

doi:10.1086/683442 UCLouvain DIAL PhilPapers PhilSci-Archive

Pence, C.H. 2015. “The Early History of Chance in Evolution.” Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 50: 48–58.

In this paper, I argue for a new understanding of the development of chance in evolution, from the from the work of Darwin through Galton to two of Galton’s students, Karl Pearson and W.F.R. Weldon. (Invited to appear in a special issue of Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science containing selected proceedings from &HPS4.)

doi:10.1016/j.shpsa.2014.09.006 UCLouvain DIAL PhilPapers PhilSci-Archive

Pence, C.H. 2015. “Military Genomic Testing: Proportionality, Expected Benefits, and the Connection between Genotypes and Phenotypes.” Journal of Law and the Biosciences 2 (1): 85–91.

A commentary on a framework for ethical decision making in military genomic research by Mehlman and Li, in which I argue that significant caution is required, thanks to conceptual results from the philosophy of biology on the relationship between genotypes and phenotypes.

doi:10.1093/jlb/lsu035 UCLouvain DIAL PhilPapers

Pence, C.H. 2015. “The Many Chances of Charles Darwin [Essay Review].” Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 53: 107–110.

Essay review of: Johnson, C. 2015. Darwin’s Dice: The Idea of Chance in the Thought of Charles Darwin. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

doi:10.1016/j.shpsc.2015.07.008 UCLouvain DIAL PhilPapers

Pence, C.H. 2015. “[Review of] Darwin’s Dice: The Idea of Chance in the Thought of Charles Darwin.” Reports of the National Center for Science Education 35 (6): 11.

Reviewed work: Johnson, C. 2015. Darwin’s Dice: The Idea of Chance in the Thought of Charles Darwin. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

at the publisher UCLouvain DIAL

Pence, C.H. 2014. “Busting Myths about ‘Species’ [Review of Species: A History of the Idea, by John Wilkins].” Evolution: Education and Outreach 7: 21.

Reviewed work: Wilkins, J.S. 2009. Species: A History of the Idea. Berkeley: University of California Press.

doi:10.1186/s12052-014-0021-4 UCLouvain DIAL

Pence, C.H. Dissertation. Chance in Evolutionary Theory: Fitness, Selection, and Genetic Drift in Philosophical and Historical Perspective.

My doctoral dissertation. Most chapters from this dissertation are either other published papers or preprints available elsewhere on this website, but here it is anyway for completeness.

doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.988695 figshare

Pence, C.H. & Ramsey, G. 2013. “A New Foundation for the Propensity Interpretation of Fitness.” British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 64 (4): 851–881.

We apply some results from mathematical biology to show that there is no reason to think that a modified formulation of the propensity interpretation of fitness cannot survive several common counterexamples to the traditional PIF.

doi:10.1093/bjps/axs037 UCLouvain DIAL PhilPapers PhilSci-Archive

Ramsey, G. & Pence, C.H. 2013. “Fitness: Philosophical Problems.” eLS.

An entry on the philosophical interpretation of fitness for Wiley’s Encyclopedia of the Life Sciences.

doi:10.1002/9780470015902.a0003443.pub2 UCLouvain DIAL PhilPapers PhilSci-Archive

Pence, C.H. 2013. “[Review of] Staffan Müller-Wille and Hans-Jörg Rheinberger, A Cultural History of Heredity.” HOPOS 3 (1): 168–172.

Reviewed work: Müller-Wille, S. & Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg. 2012. A Cultural History of Heredity. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

doi:10.1086/668913 UCLouvain DIAL PhilPapers

Hollocher, H., Pence, C.H., Ramsey, G., and Wirth, M.M. 2013. “A Path to Success? A Review of Evolution, Development, and the Predictable Genome by David L. Stern.” Evolution and Development 15 (1): 80–82.

Reviewed work: Stern, D.L. 2011. Evolution, Development, and the Predictable Genome. Greenwood Village, CO: Roberts and Company Publishers.

doi:10.1111/ede.12016 UCLouvain DIAL

Philip, J.T., Pence, C.H. & Goodson, H.V. 2012. “MTBindingSim: Simulate Protein Binding to Microtubules.” Bioinformatics 28 (3): 441–443.

An application note introducing MTBindingSim, a tool for classroom simulation of binding to microtubules.

doi:10.1093/bioinformatics/btr684 UCLouvain DIAL

Pence, C.H. & Buchak, L. 2012. “Oyun: A New, Free Program for Iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma Tournaments in the Classroom.” Evolution: Education and Outreach 5 (3): 467–476.

An application note describing Oyun, software for running iterated prisoner’s dilemma tournaments.

doi:10.1007/s12052-012-0434-x UCLouvain DIAL PhilPapers PhilSci-Archive

Pence, C.H. 2011. “‘Describing Our Whole Experience’: The Statistical Philosophies of W.F.R. Weldon and Karl Pearson.” Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 42 (4): 475–485.

I argue here for a new view of the philosophy of W.F.R. Weldon, distinct in interesting and important ways from the positivism of Karl Pearson.

doi:10.1016/j.shpsc.2011.07.011 UCLouvain DIAL PhilPapers PhilSci-Archive

Pence, C.H. 2011. “Nietzsche’s Aesthetic Critique of Darwin.” History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 33 (2): 165–190.

A reinterpretation of Nietzsche’s critique of Darwin, seen in the light of his early work on aesthetics. (Several of the Nietzsche citations in the published version are missing, despite my best efforts. The preprint has them all, for those interested.)

at the publisher UCLouvain DIAL PhilPapers PhilSci-Archive

Hollocher, H., Fuentes, A., Pence, C.H., Ramsey, G., Sportiello, D.J. and Wirth, M.M. 2011. “[Review of] On the Origin of Stories: Evolution, Cognition, and Fiction.” The Quarterly Review of Biology 86 (2): 137–138.

Reviewed work: Boyd, B. 2009. On the Origin of Stories: Evolution, Cognition, and Fiction. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

doi:10.1086/659913 UCLouvain DIAL PhilPapers

Pence, C.H., Hollocher, H., Nichols, R., Ramsey, G., Siu, E., and Sportiello, D.J. 2011. “[Review of] Elliott Sober: Did Darwin Write the Origin Backwards? Philosophical Essays on Darwin’s Theory.” Philosophy of Science 78 (4): 705–709.

Reviewed work: Sober, E. 2011. Did Darwin Write the Origin Backwards? Philosophical Essays on Darwin’s Theory. Amherst, NY: Prometheus.

doi:10.1086/661775 UCLouvain DIAL PhilPapers

Ramsey, G., Hollocher, H., Fuentes, A., Pence, C.H. and Siu, E. 2010. “[Review of] Darwinian Populations and Natural Selection.” The Quarterly Review of Biology 85 (4): 499–500.

Reviewed work: Godfrey-Smith, P. 2009. Darwinian Popluations and Natural Selection. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

doi:10.1086/656856 UCLouvain DIAL PhilPapers

Talks

Upcoming engagements

Pence: “Hypothesis-Driven Digital Philosophy of Science,” New Directions in Metaphilosophy, University of Kent, May 13–14, 2021
Pence: “Hypothesis-Driven Digital Philosophy,” Summer School on Methodologies for the History of Philosophy (keynote, virtual), University of Groningen, July 5–9, 2021

The lab is always interested in talking about our work to any audiences who would like to hear about it. Send Prof. Pence an email and we’d love to set something up.

Previous talks

The Greatly Exaggerated Reports of the Death of Biometry

Lab Speaker(s): Pence
McMaster Philosophy Department Colloquium (online) | Talk Date: recorded March 22, 2021; discussion March 26, 2021

Research Products

Oliver M. Lean

Former postdoctoral fellow

Charles H. Pence

Lecturer (tenure-track), Lab PI

Luca Rivelli

Postdoctoral fellow

Daniel G. Swaim

Former master’s student

Talks

Upcoming engagements

Previous talks

Outreach

Code