Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Philosophy
The Individualized Niche: A Case Study in Scientific Conceptual Change
Published: 2025-03-17
Subjects: Arts and Humanities, Other Arts and Humanities, Philosophy
We explore the causes and outcomes of scientific conceptual change using a case study of the development of the individualized niche concept. We outline a framework for characterizing conceptual change that distinguishes between epistemically adaptive and neutral processes and outcomes of conceptual change. We then apply this framework in tracing how the individualized niche concept arose [...]
Three Paths Through the Levels of Selection
Published: 2024-08-08
Subjects: Anthropology, Behavior and Ethology, Evolution, Philosophy, Psychology, Sociology, Statistical Models, Zoology
Individualisation and individualised science across disciplinary perspectives
Published: 2023-05-05
Subjects: Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Economics, Medical Sciences, Philosophy, Psychology, Public Health, Sociology
Recent efforts in a range of scientific fields have emphasised research and methods concerning individual differences and individualisation. This article brings together various scientific disciplines—ecology, evolution, and animal behaviour; medicine and psychiatry; public health and sport/exercise science; sociology; psychology; economics and management science—and presents their research on [...]
Living Through Multispecies Societies: Approaching the Microbiome with Imanishi Kinji
Published: 2022-06-12
Subjects: Arts and Humanities, Other Philosophy, Philosophy
Recent research about the microbiome points to a picture in which we, humans, are living through nature, and nature itself is living in us. Our bodies are hosting – and depend on – the multiple species that constitute human microbiota. This article will discuss current research on the microbiome through the ideas of Japanese ecologist Imanishi Kinji (1902-1992). First, some of Imanishi’s key [...]