John Dupré
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John A. Dupré (; born 3 July 1952) is a British
philosopher of science Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
. 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 research university in the West Country of England, with its main campus in Exeter, Devon. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of ...
. Dupré's chief work area lies in
philosophy of biology The philosophy of biology is a subfield of philosophy of science, which deals with epistemology, epistemological, metaphysics, metaphysical, and ethics, ethical issues in the biological and biomedical sciences. Although philosophers of science and ...
, philosophy of the
social science Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among members within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the ...
s, and general philosophy of science. Dupré, together with
Nancy Cartwright Nancy Jean Cartwright (born October 25, 1957) is an American actress, best known as the long-time voice of Bart Simpson on ''The Simpsons'', for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance and an Annie Award f ...
,
Ian Hacking Ian MacDougall Hacking (February 18, 1936 – May 10, 2023) was a Canadian philosopher specializing in the philosophy of science. Throughout his career, he won numerous awards, such as the Killam Prize for the Humanities and the Balzan Prize, ...
, Patrick Suppes and
Peter Galison Peter Louis Galison (born May 17, 1955) is an American historian and philosopher of science. He is the Joseph Pellegrino University Professor in history of science and technology, history of science and physics at Harvard University. Biography G ...
, are often grouped together as the " Stanford School" of
philosophy of science Philosophy of science is the branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and implications of science. Amongst its central questions are the difference between science and non-science, the reliability of scientific theories, ...
. In 2023, he was elected to the
American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...
.


Education and career

Dupré was educated at the
University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...
and the
University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
and taught at Oxford,
Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
and
Birkbeck, University of London Birkbeck, University of London (formally Birkbeck College, University of London), is a Public university, public research university located in London, England, and a constituent college, member institution of the University of London. Establ ...
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 a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...
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 (The Academy) 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 other ...
. In 2022, he delivered the Gifford Lectures on ''A Brief History of Form'' at the
University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; ) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bis ...
, and again in 2023 at the
University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...
on ''A Process Perspective on Human Life''.


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 simpler or more fundamental phenomena. It is also described as an intellectual and philosophical positi ...
. Physical reductionism suggests that all science may be reduced to physical explanations due to
causal Causality is an influence by which one Event (philosophy), event, process, state, or Object (philosophy), object (''a'' ''cause'') contributes to the production of another event, process, state, or object (an ''effect'') where the cause is at l ...
or mereological links that obtain between the objects studied in the higher sciences and the objects studied by
physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, 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 whi ...
. For example, a physical reductionist would see
psychological Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...
facts as (in principle) reducible to
neurological Neurology (from , "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 nervous system, which comprises the brain, the s ...
facts, which is in turn are reducible to
biological Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, and distribution of ...
facts. Biology could then be explained in terms of
chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...
, and chemistry could then be explained in terms of physical
explanation An explanation is a set of statements usually constructed to describe a set of facts that clarifies the causes, context, and consequences of those facts. It may establish rules or laws, and clarifies the existing rules or laws in relation ...
. 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 the Metaphysics, metaphysical view that all events within the universe (or multiverse) can occur only in one possible way. Deterministic theories throughout the history of philosophy have developed from diverse and sometimes ov ...
, 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 Jean Cartwright (born October 25, 1957) is an American actress, best known as the long-time voice of Bart Simpson on ''The Simpsons'', for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance and an Annie Award f ...
.


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 explain social behavior in terms of evolution. It draws from disciplines including psychology, ethology, anthropology, evolution, zoology, archaeology, and population genetics. Within the study of ...
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 regard to the ancestral problems they evolved ...
. 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 image:Hierarchical clustering diagram.png, 280px, Generalized scheme of taxonomy Taxonomy is a practice and science concerned with classification or categorization. Typically, there are two parts to it: the development of an underlying scheme o ...
. 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 or
sex Sex is the biological trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing organism produces male or female gametes. During sexual reproduction, a male and a female gamete fuse to form a zygote, which develops into an offspring that inheri ...
. 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 Paleontology, paleontologist, Evolutionary biology, evolutionary biologist, and History of science, historian of science. He was one of the most influential and widely re ...
.


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. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 U.S. census was 118, ...
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 British 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 International members of the American Philosophical Society