52 found
Order:
  1. Race: A Social Destruction of a Biological Concept.Neven Sesardic - 2010 - Biology and Philosophy 25 (2):143-162.
    It is nowadays a dominant opinion in a number of disciplines (anthropology, genetics, psychology, philosophy of science) that the taxonomy of human races does not make much biological sense. My aim is to challenge the arguments that are usually thought to invalidate the biological concept of race. I will try to show that the way “race” was defined by biologists several decades ago (by Dobzhansky and others) is in no way discredited by conceptual criticisms that are now fashionable and widely (...)
    Direct download (7 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   63 citations  
  2.  41
    Making Sense of Heritability.Neven Sesardic - 2005 - Cambridge University Press.
    In this book, Neven Sesardic defends the view that it is both possible and useful to measure the separate contributions of heredity and environment to the explanation of human psychological differences. He critically examines the view - very widely accepted by scientists, social scientists and philosophers of science - that heritability estimates have no causal implications and are devoid of any interest. In a series of clearly written chapters he introduces the reader to the problems and subjects the arguments to (...)
    Direct download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   32 citations  
  3. Is Racial Profiling a Legitimate Strategy in the Fight against Violent Crime?Neven Sesardić - 2018 - Philosophia 46 (4):981-999.
    Racial profiling has come under intense public scrutiny especially since the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement. This article discusses two questions: whether racial profiling is sometimes rational, and whether it can be morally permissible. It is argued that under certain circumstances the affirmative answer to both questions is justified.
    Direct download (3 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   6 citations  
  4. Confusions about Race: A New Installment.Neven Sesardic - 2013 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 44 (3):287-293.
    In his criticism of my paper on the concept of race (Sesardic, 2010), Adam Hochman raises many issues that deserve further clarification. First, I will comment on Hochman’s claim that I attack a straw man version of racial constructionism. Second, I will try to correct what I see as a distorted historical picture of the debate between racial naturalists and racial constructionists. Third, I will point out the main weaknesses in Hochman’s own defense of constructionism about race. And fourth, I (...)
    Direct download (7 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   18 citations  
  5. Women in Philosophy: Problems with the Discrimination Hypothesis.Neven Sesardic & Rafael de Clercq - 2014 - Academic Questions 27 (4):461-473.
    A number of philosophers attribute the underrepresentation of women in philosophy largely to bias against women or some kind of wrongful discrimination. They cite six sources of evidence to support their contention: (1) gender disparities that increase along the path from undergraduate student to full time faculty member; (2) anecdotal accounts of discrimination in philosophy; (3) research on gender bias in the evaluation of manuscripts, grants, and curricula vitae in other academic disciplines; (4) psychological research on implicit bias; (5) psychological (...)
    Direct download (4 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   6 citations  
  6. Philosophy of Science that Ignores Science: Race, IQ and Heritability.Neven Sesardic - 2000 - Philosophy of Science 67 (4):580-602.
    Philosophers of science widely believe that the hereditarian theory about racial differences in IQ is based on methodological mistakes and confusions involving the concept of heritability. I argue that this "received view" is wrong: methodological criticisms popular among philosophers are seriously misconceived, and the discussion in philosophy of science about these matters is largely disconnected from the real, empirically complex issues debated in science.
    Direct download (12 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   11 citations  
  7.  86
    Heritability and Causality.Neven Sesardic - 1993 - Philosophy of Science 60 (3):396-418.
    The critics of "hereditarianism" often claim that any attempt to explain human behavior by invoking genes is confronted with insurmountable methodological difficulties. They reject the idea that heritability estimates could lead to genetic explanations by pointing out that these estimates are strictly valid only for a given population and that they are exposed to the irremovable confounding effects of genotype-environment interaction and genotype-environment correlation. I argue that these difficulties are greatly exaggerated, and that we would be wrong to regard them (...)
    Direct download (8 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   11 citations  
  8.  42
    When Reason Goes on Holiday: Philosophers in Politics.Neven Sesardić - 2016 - New York: Encounter Books.
    Analytic philosophers usually emphasize the importance of logic, clarity and reason. Therefore when they address political issues one would expect that they would usually inject a dose of rationality in these discussions. But this book gives a lot of examples showing the unexpected level of political irrationality among leading contemporary philosophers.
    Direct download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   3 citations  
  9. Recent Work on Human Altruism and Evolution.Neven Sesardic - 1995 - Ethics 106 (1):128-157.
  10. Evolution of human jealousy a just-so story or a just-so criticism?Neven Sesardic - 2003 - Philosophy of the Social Sciences 33 (4):427-443.
    To operationalize the methodological assessment of evolutionary psychology, three requirements are proposed that, if satisfied, would show that a hypothesis is not a just-so story: (1) theoretical entrenchment (i.e., that the hypothesis under consideration is a consequence of a more fundamental theory that is empirically well-confirmed across a very wide range of phenomena), (2) predictive success (i.e., that the hypothesis generates concrete predictions that make it testable and eventually to a certain extent corroborated), and (3) failure of rival explanations (i.e., (...)
    Direct download (3 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   7 citations  
  11.  64
    Fizikalizam.Neven Sesardić - 1984 - Belgrade: Istraživačko-izdavački centar SSO Srbije.
  12. Heritability and indirect causation.Neven Sesardic - 2003 - Philosophy of Science 70 (5):1002-1014.
    Genetic differences can lead to phenotypic differences either directly or indirectly (via causing differences in external environments, which then affect phenotype). This possibility of genetic effects being mediated by environmental influences is often used by scientists and philosophers to argue that heritability is not a very helpful causal or explanatory notion. In this paper it is shown that these criticisms are based on serious misconceptions about methods of behavior genetics.
    Direct download (12 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   6 citations  
  13. Nature, Nurture, and Politics.Neven Sesardic - 2010 - Biology and Philosophy 25 (3):433-436.
    Political imputations in science are notoriously a tricky business. I addressed this issue in the context of the nature–nurture debate in the penultimate chapter of my book Making Sense of Heritability (Cambridge U. P. 2005). Although the book mainly dealt with the logic of how one should think about heritability of psychological differences, it also discussed the role of politics in our efforts to understand the dynamics of that controversy. I first argued that if a scholar publicly defends a certain (...)
    Direct download (4 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   3 citations  
  14. Kant Can’t Get No... Contradiction.Neven Sesardić - 2020 - Philosophia (5):1-18.
    According to Kant, the universalization of the maxim of false promising leads to a contradiction, namely, to everyone adopting the maxim of false promising which would in effect make promising impossible. I first propose a reconstruction of Kant’s reasoning in four steps and then show that each of these steps is highly problematic. In the second part I argue that attempts by several prominent contemporary philosophers to defend Kant fail because they encounter similar difficulties.
    Direct download (3 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  15. Guilt by statistical association : revisiting the prosecutor’s fallacy and the interrogator’s fallacy.Neven Sesardic - 2008 - Journal of Philosophy 105 (6):320-332.
    The article focuses on prosecutor's fallacy and interrogator's fallacy, the two kinds of reasoning in inferring a suspect's guilt. The prosecutor's fallacy is a combination of two conditional probabilities that lead to unfortunate commission of error in the process due to the inclination of the prosecutor in the establishment of strong evidence that will indict the defendant. It provides a comprehensive discussion of Gerd Gigerenzer's discourse on a criminal case in Germany explaining the perils of prosecutor's fallacy in his application (...)
    Direct download (8 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   2 citations  
  16. The Curious Case of the Double Dissident.Neven Sesardić - 2021 - In T. Allan Hillman & Tully Borland (eds.), Dissident Philosophers: Voices Against the Political Current of the Academy. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. pp. 229-246.
    No categories
    Direct download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  17. Altruism.Neven Sesardic - 1999 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 50 (3):457-466.
  18. Sudden Infant Death or Murder? A Royal Confusion About Probabilities.Neven Sesardic - 2007 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 58 (2):299-329.
    In this article I criticize the recommendations of some prominent statisticians about how to estimate and compare probabilities of the repeated sudden infant death and repeated murder. The issue has drawn considerable public attention in connection with several recent court cases in the UK. I try to show that when the three components of the Bayesian inference are carefully analyzed in this context, the advice of the statisticians turns out to be problematic in each of the steps.
    Direct download (11 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   1 citation  
  19. Gattaca.Neven Sesardic - 2008 - In The Routledge Companion to Philosophy and Film. Routledge.
    Direct download (2 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  20. Avoid Certain Frustration—Or Maybe Not?Neven Sesardić - 2018 - Thought: A Journal of Philosophy.
    In the situation known as the “cable guy paradox” the expected utility principle and the “avoid certain frustration” principle (ACF) seem to give contradictory advice about what one should do. This article tries to resolve the paradox by presenting an example that weakens the grip of ACF: a modified version of the cable guy problem is introduced in which the choice dictated by ACF loses much of its intuitive appeal.
    Direct download (4 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  21.  99
    Egalitarianism and Natural Lottery.Neven Sesardic - 1993 - Public Affairs Quarterly 7 (1):57-69.
  22. Science and Politics: Dangerous Liaisons.Neven Sesardić - 1992 - Journal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 23 (1):129-151.
    In contrast to the opinion of numerous authors (e.g. R. Rudner, P. Kitcher, L. R. Graham, M. Dummett, N. Chomsky, R. Lewontin, etc.) it is argued here that the formation of opinion in science should be greatly insulated from political considerations. Special attention is devoted to the view that methodological standards for evaluation of scientific theories ought to vary according to the envisaged political uses of these theories.
    Direct download (5 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   2 citations  
  23. The ICTY Verdict and Its Illogicalities.Neven Sesardić - 2013 - In Iz desne perspektive. Zagreb: Večernji list.
    Direct download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  24. From Biological Inhibitions to Cultural Prohibitions, or How Not to Refute Edward Westermarck.Neven Sesardic - 1998 - Biology and Philosophy 13 (3):413-426.
    My aim in this paper is to take a closer look at an influential argument that purports to prove that the existence of cultural prohibitions could never be explained by biological inhibitions. The argument is two-pronged. The first prong reduces to the claim: inhibitions cannot cause prohibitions simply because inhibitions undermine the raison dêtre of prohibitions. The second strategy consists in arguing that inhibitions cannot cause prohibitions because the two differ importantly in their contents. I try to show that both (...)
    Direct download (5 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   2 citations  
  25. An Explosion without a Bang.Neven Sesardic - 2011 - International Journal of Epidemiology 40 (3):592-596.
  26. From genes to incest taboos.Neven Sesardic - 2004 - In W. H. Durham & A. P. Wolf (ed.), Incest, Inbreeding, and the Incest Taboo: The State of Knowledge at the Turn of the Century. Stanford University Press. pp. 109-120.
  27. Study Philosophy to Improve Thinking—A Case of False Advertising?Neven Sesardić - manuscript
    No categories
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  28. Crossing the 'Explanatory Divide': A Bridge to Nowhere?Neven Sesardic - 2015 - International Journal of Epidemiology 44:1124-1127.
    Direct download (5 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  29. Article.Neven Sesardic - unknown
    To operationalize the methodological assessment of evolutionary psychology, three requirements are proposed that, if satisfied, would show that a hypothesis is not a just-so story: (1) theoretical entrenchment (i.e., that the hypothesis under consideration is a consequence of a more fundamental theory that is empirically well-confirmed across a very wide range of phenomena), (2) predictive success (i.e., that the hypothesis generates concrete predictions that make it testable and eventually to a certain extent corroborated), and (3) failure of rival explanations (i.e., (...)
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  30. Über die Möglichkeit einer biolinguistischen Semantik der Erfahrungssprache.Neven Sesardić - 1993 - Philosophia Naturalis 30:63-71.
    No categories
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  31.  37
    (1 other version)Filozofska matineja.Neven Sesardić - 2008 - Prolegomena 7 (2):207-222.
    No categories
    Direct download (2 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  32.  21
    Genes and Malleability.Neven Sesardic - 1998 - Kagaku Tetsugaku 31 (2):41-48.
    Direct download (3 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  33.  22
    Goran Švob (1947–2013).Neven Sesardić - 2013 - Prolegomena 12 (1):143-145.
    Direct download (2 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  34.  26
    (1 other version)Homoseksualni brak: pobjeda političke korektnosti i loših argumenata.Neven Sesardić - 2007 - Prolegomena 6 (1):5-28.
    No categories
    Direct download (2 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  35. Iz desne perspektive.Neven Sesardić (ed.) - 2013 - Zagreb: Večernji list.
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  36. Ioannis Votsis, London School of Economics.Neven Sesardic - unknown
    Does the concept of “race” find support in contemporary science, particularly in biology? No, says Naomi Zack, together with so many others who nowadays argue that human races lack biological reality. This claim is widely accepted in a number of fields (philosophy, biology, anthropology, and psychology), and Zack’s book represents only the latest defense of social constructivism in this context. There are several reasons why she fails to make a convincing case. Zack starts by arbitrarily ascribing an anachronistically essentialist connotation (...)
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  37. Mitchell Et Al.Neven Sesardic - unknown
    philosophers of science have in succession defended and, indeed, taken seriously the following claims on the issue: (a) that reductionism is a pri- ori true, (b) that it is contingently true, (c) that it is contingently false, and (d) that it is a priori false. Of these, (a) is now completely abandoned, (b) is moribund, (c) is presently a dominant view, and (d) is an influential and controversial position (see D. Davidson, 1970), but largely restricted..
    No categories
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  38. Marxian Utopia?: A Theoretical Critique of Marxism.Neven Sesardić - 1985 - London, UK: CRCE.
    In the first stage of his thinking Karl Marx founded his revolutionary politics on philosophical speculation, while in the second (mature) stage he relied on economics and the theory of exploitation based on his theory of surplus value. Marxism, however, developed in the opposite direction. After Marx's economic doctrine became vulnerable to powerful objections, Marxists tried to find a refuge in his early philosophical writings and in this way avoid refutation. Ultimately this attempt proved unsuccessful too.
    Direct download (3 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  39.  22
    Philosophy and Science.Neven Sesardic - 1985 - Filozofska Istrazivanja 15:797-802.
    This article deals with the changing relationship between philosophy and modern science. in the beginning there was a rivalry of the two approaches due to the interest in the same subject areas. the strict demarcation between science and philosophy, which was established afterwords by logical positivists, prevented the breaking out of conflicts, but it prevented the mutual communication as well. today we are the witnesses of a greater and greater cooperation of science and philosophy and of a fruitful exchange of (...)
    Direct download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  40.  27
    Psychology Without Principle of Charity.Neven Sesardić - 1986 - Dialectica 40 (3):229-240.
    SummaryIn this article I am criticizing Davidson's claim that psychological description and explanation are impossible without a strong assumption of rationality of the subject. I am trying to dispute his thesis that presupposition of coherence between propositional attitudes must be treated as a constitutive principle of psychology which fundamentally differentiates this science from physics and precludes the existence of strict psycho‐physical laws. Philosophical and empirical arguments are brought forward tho show that Davidson overestimates the role of rationality considerations in psychology. (...)
    Direct download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  41.  33
    Synthetic Philosophy: A Manifesto.Neven Sesardic - 2013 - Philosophy Now 98:30-30.
    No categories
    Direct download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  42.  16
    The Heritage of the Vienna Circle.Neven Sesardić - 1979 - Grazer Philosophische Studien 9 (1):121-129.
    This article presents a criticism of the widespread assumption that the programme of the Vienna Circle has been proven to be unrealizable and, therefore, that it is today quite uninteresting and to be entirely abandoned. The basic aim of logical positivists was to raise philosophy to the rigour and high standards of contemporary science. It must be admitted that they were unsuccessful in their attempts to eliminate old-fashioned and conservative philosophy by proving it to be senseless. There is in fact (...)
    Direct download (6 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  43. The Routledge Companion to Philosophy and Film.Neven Sesardic (ed.) - 2008 - Routledge.
    No categories
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  44.  58
    Wittgenstein Without Tears.Neven Sesardic - 2011 - Philosophy Now 83:54-54.
    Direct download (2 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  45.  27
    NEVEN SESARDICMaking Sense of Heritability. [REVIEW]Neven Sesardic - 2007 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 58 (3):619-623.
    Direct download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   32 citations  
  46.  52
    Review of N. Zack, Philosophy of Science and Race. [REVIEW]Neven Sesardic - 2003 - Philosophy of Science 70 (2):447-449.
    Does the concept of “race” find support in contemporary science, particularly in biology? No, says Naomi Zack, together with so many others who nowadays argue that human races lack biological reality. This claim is widely accepted in a number of fields (philosophy, biology, anthropology, and psychology), and Zack’s book represents only the latest defense of social constructivism in this context. There are several reasons why she fails to make a convincing case.
    Direct download (6 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   4 citations  
  47. The Mirage of a Space between Nature and Nurture. [REVIEW]Neven Sesardić - 2011 - International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 25 (4):417-420.
    International Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Volume 25, Issue 4, Page 417-420, December 2011.
    Direct download (5 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  48.  36
    Review: Review Article: Altruism. [REVIEW]Neven Sesardic - 1999 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 50 (3):457 - 466.
  49.  25
    Book review : Measuring intelligence : facts and fallacies. [REVIEW]Neven Sesardic - unknown
    This article reviews the book "Measuring Intelligence: Facts and Fallacies" by David J. Bartholomew.
    Direct download (4 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  50.  24
    Book review : Modeling rationality, morality and evolution. [REVIEW]Neven Sesardic - unknown
    This article reviews the book "Modeling Rationality, Morality and Evolution" edited by Peter Danielson.
    Direct download (4 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
1 — 50 / 52