Sober's

The subject of Sober's criticism is not "population ancestry" in general but specifically the designation of a species as the original ancestor.

A Disclaimer for Behe? 2009

The subject of Sober's criticism is not "population ancestry" in general but specifically the designation of a species as the original ancestor.

A Disclaimer for Behe? 2009

Your careful cropping of Sober's quote conceals his specific objections to the species as an ancestor.

A Disclaimer for Behe? 2009

Another thing you folks are missing here is the impact of Of Pandas and People (both the main book, by Davis and Kenyon, and the concluding essay, by Hartwig and Meyer) on Sober's analysis.

2007 February - Telic Thoughts 2007

In any case, to subscribe to the conclusion of the indispensability argument in the face of Sober's or Maddy's objections is to hold the position that it's permissible at least to have ontological commitment to entities that receive no empirical support.

Indispensability Arguments in the Philosophy of Mathematics Colyvan, Mark 2008

I'll leave the discussion of the impact the rejection of confirmational holism would have on the indispensability argument until after I outline Sober's objection, because Sober arrives at much the same conclusion.

Indispensability Arguments in the Philosophy of Mathematics Colyvan, Mark 2008

In Sober's original article he points out that population thinking might save cultural evolutionary models from vacuity in just this way:

Cultural Evolution Lewens, Tim 2007

Sober's concern is with whether models such as these will also affect ˜the day-to-day research of social scientists™, who are not so interested in establishing such general conditions for cumulative cultural evolution, but who are instead interested in understanding particular episodes of social and cultural change.

Cultural Evolution Lewens, Tim 2007

Note, however, in favour of Sober's scepticism, that the most interesting cultural evolutionary models are often those which show the general circumstances under which it is possible for cultural inheritance to be effective in producing adaptation.

Cultural Evolution Lewens, Tim 2007

This is similar to Sober's counter-example of where a light spot ˜transmits™ the characteristic of occurring after a glass filter is bolted in place. (1987, p. 254).

Causal Processes Dowe, Phil 2007