John A. Dupré (born 3 July 1952) is a British
philosopher of science
A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...
. He is the director of Egenis, the Centre for the Study of Life Sciences, and professor of philosophy at the
University of Exeter
The University of Exeter is a public university , public research university in Exeter, Devon, England, United Kingdom. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of Min ...
. Dupré's chief work area lies in
philosophy of biology
The philosophy of biology is a subfield of philosophy of science, which deals with epistemological, metaphysical, and ethical issues in the biological and biomedical sciences. Although philosophers of science and philosophers generally have lon ...
, philosophy of the
social science
Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of soc ...
s, and general philosophy of science. Dupré, together with
Nancy Cartwright
Nancy Cartwright (born October 25, 1957) is an American actress. She is the long-time voice of Bart Simpson on the animated television series ''The Simpsons'', for which she has received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Perform ...
,
Ian Hacking
Ian MacDougall Hacking (born February 18, 1936) is a Canadian philosopher specializing in the philosophy of science. Throughout his career, he has won numerous awards, such as the Killam Prize for the Humanities and the Balzan Prize, and been ...
,
Patrick Suppes
Patrick Colonel Suppes (; March 17, 1922 – November 17, 2014) was an American philosopher who made significant contributions to philosophy of science, the theory of measurement, the foundations of quantum mechanics, decision theory, psychology ...
and
Peter Galison
Peter Louis Galison (born May 17, 1955, New York) is an American historian and philosopher of science. He is the Joseph Pellegrino University Professor in history of science and physics at Harvard University.
Biography
Galison received his Ph. ...
, are often grouped together as the "
Stanford School
The Stanford School (humorously also called the Stanford Disunity Mafia) is a group of philosophers of science, the members of which taught at various times at Stanford University, who share an intellectual tradition of arguing against the unity of ...
" of
philosophy of science
Philosophy of science is a branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and implications of science. The central questions of this study concern what qualifies as science, the reliability of scientific theories, and the ultim ...
.
Education and career
Dupré was educated at the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
and the
University of Cambridge
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
and taught at Oxford,
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
and
Birkbeck College
Birkbeck, University of London (formally Birkbeck College, University of London), is a public university, public research university, located in Bloomsbury, London, England, and a constituent college, member institution of the federal Universit ...
of the
University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...
before moving to Exeter.
In 2010 Dupré was elected a Fellow of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...
in recognition of his work on Darwinism, and is a former president of the British Society for the Philosophy of Science. In 2018 he was elected Vice-President (and President-Elect) of the Philosophy of Science Association (USA). In 2020, he was elected a Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...
.
Philosophical work
Pluralistic metaphysics
Dupré advocates a pluralistic model of science as opposed to the common notion of
reductionism
Reductionism is any of several related philosophical ideas regarding the associations between phenomena which can be described in terms of other simpler or more fundamental phenomena. It is also described as an intellectual and philosophical pos ...
. Physical Reductionism suggests that all science may be reduced to physical explanations due to
causal
Causality (also referred to as causation, or cause and effect) is influence by which one event, process, state, or object (''a'' ''cause'') contributes to the production of another event, process, state, or object (an ''effect'') where the cau ...
or
mereological links that obtain between the objects studied in the higher sciences and the objects studied by
physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
. For example, a physical reductionist would see
psychological
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between t ...
facts as (in principle) reducible to
neurological
Neurology (from el, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the brain, the spinal ...
facts, which is in turn are reducible to
biological
Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary in ...
facts. Biology could then be explained in terms of
chemistry
Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...
, and chemistry could then be explained in terms of physical
explanation
An explanation is a set of Statement (logic), statements usually constructed to description, describe a set of facts which clarifies the causality, causes, wiktionary:context, context, and Logical consequence, consequences of those facts. It may ...
. While reductionism of this sort is a common position among scientists and philosophers, Dupré suggests that such reduction is not possible as the world has an inherently pluralistic structure.
Determinism
A classical argument for reductionism relies on a particular conception of causality, according to which each event must have a sufficient physical cause. Physical interactions are therefore sufficient to account for all causal interactions. Under this assumption, psychological or biological facts must be eliminable in favour of physical facts, given that the physical conditions do all the causal work. This makes all the other, non-physical conditions causally superfluous.
Dupré tries to escape this problem by rejecting
determinism
Determinism is a philosophical view, where all events are determined completely by previously existing causes. Deterministic theories throughout the history of philosophy have developed from diverse and sometimes overlapping motives and consi ...
, and the assumption that there is a physical cause for each and every event. In place of Determinism, Dupré proposes a conception of indeterministic,
probabilistic causality. His ideas are influenced by
Nancy Cartwright
Nancy Cartwright (born October 25, 1957) is an American actress. She is the long-time voice of Bart Simpson on the animated television series ''The Simpsons'', for which she has received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Perform ...
.
Philosophy of biology
Dupré is an important critic of biological research programs in the life science community. In particular, he criticises evolution-biological stories and how they are related in
sociobiology
Sociobiology is a field of biology that aims to examine and explain social behavior in terms of evolution. It draws from disciplines including psychology, ethology, anthropology, evolution, zoology, archaeology, and population genetics. Within t ...
and
evolutionary psychology
Evolutionary psychology is a theoretical approach in psychology that examines cognition and behavior from a modern evolutionary perspective. It seeks to identify human psychological adaptations with regards to the ancestral problems they evolv ...
. Dupré argues that such projects must remain speculative and reflect on the prejudices of the researchers as circumstances in the world.
Dupré is also concerned with the handling of biological
taxonomy
Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification.
A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...
. Biological classifications are made by humans, and are thus open to criticism and modification. This applies in particular to the classifications of humans – for instance after
race
Race, RACE or "The Race" may refer to:
* Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species
* Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...
or
sex
Sex is the trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing animal or plant produces male or female gametes. Male plants and animals produce smaller mobile gametes (spermatozoa, sperm, pollen), while females produce larger ones ( ova, of ...
. Dupré's arguments in this area reflect and mirror the sentiments and criticism of evolutionary biologist
Stephen Jay Gould
Stephen Jay Gould (; September 10, 1941 – May 20, 2002) was an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science. He was one of the most influential and widely read authors of popular science of his generation. Gould sp ...
.
Works
Books
*''The Disorder of Things. Metaphysical foundations of the disunity of science''. Harvard University Press,
Cambridge (Massachusetts)
Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...
1993,
*''Human Nature and the Limits of Science''. Clarendon Press, Oxford 2003,
*''Humans and Other Animals''. Clarendon Press, Oxford 2002,
*''Darwin's Legacy: What Evolution Means Today.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005,
**''Darwin's Legacy:'' German translation ''Darwins Vermächtnis'', Suhrkamp, Frankfurt/M. 2005, ;
**''Darwin's Legacy:'' Spanish translation ''El legado de Darwin. Qué significa hoy la evolución'', Buenos Aires/Madrid, Katz editores S.A, 2006,
*''Value-Free Science: Ideal or Illusion'' (with Harold Kincaid and Alison Wylie). New York: Oxford University Press, 2007,
*''The Constituents of Life'' (the Spinoza lectures). Amsterdam: Van Gorcum, 2008,
* with S. B. Barnes, ''Genomes and What to Make of Them''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008,
* with S. Parry, ''Nature After the Genome.'' Oxford: Wiley Blackwell, 2010,
* ''Processes of Life: Essays in the Philosophy of Biology.'' Oxford University Press, 2012.
* with D. J. Nicholson. ''Everything Flows: Towards a Processual Philosophy of Biology.'' Oxford University Press, 2018.
Journal articles
*
Appearances
*Such That Cast philosophy podcast http://suchthatcast.com/dupre/#more-463
*Philosophy TV in conversation with Alex Rosenberg on Non-reductive physicalism. https://vimeo.com/15442250
References
External links
Dupré's homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dupre, John
1952 births
Living people
Alumni of the University of Oxford
Fellows of St John's College, Oxford
Harkness Fellows
Academics of Birkbeck, University of London
Academics of the University of Exeter
Philosophers of science
Alumni of the University of Cambridge
Philosophers of biology
Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
21st-century British philosophers