Professor Elliot Sober

About the Speaker: Elliott Sober (Hans Reichenbach Professor and William F. Vilas Research Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin, Madison) is a leading figure in the philosophy of science and the preeminent authority on the philosophy of biology. Published work includes: Simplicity (Oxford, 1975), The Nature of Selection (MIT, 1984), Reconstructing the Past (MIT, 1991), and (with David Sloan Wilson) Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior (Harvard, 1998).

"The Design Argument"
Friday, September 16, 4:00 pm in the Business Auditorium
Brief Abstract: The Design Argument is one of the most sophisticated and influential arguments for the existence of God. In this paper, Elliott Sober provides a careful analysis of the logical structure of the design argument and explains why it fails to support a theological worldview.

"Epiphenomenalism - Do's and Don'ts"
Saturday, September 17th, 2:00 pm in the Medicine Bow Room, Beta House
Brief Abstract: Epiphenomenalism is the thesis that a given property or set of properties is causally inert. Sober defends an a posteriori approach to epiphenomenalism which, in conjunction with a manipulationist theory of causation, clarifies a number of issues concerning causation at different levels of organization.

Sponsored by the Department of Philosophy

Co-sponsored by the Wyoming Space Grant Consortium, the Program in Ecology and Wyoming EPSCoR Ecology Project , and the Departments of Botany, Molecular Biology, Political Science and  Zoology-Physiology