John S. Wilkins
@jswilkins.bsky.social
Historian and Philosopher of Biology, focusing on species and taxonomy. Blog: https:/evolvingthoughts.net, Mastodon: https://fediscience.org/deck/@jswilkins, Substack: https://substack.com/@johnwilkins.
I meant to add “in the first half of the 19th century “
November 15, 2025 at 1:57 AM
I meant to add “in the first half of the 19th century “
Pretty well everyone in the Anglophonium wanted their science to be Newtonian. And a healthy number of continentals.
November 15, 2025 at 1:51 AM
Pretty well everyone in the Anglophonium wanted their science to be Newtonian. And a healthy number of continentals.
All arts is memes
November 15, 2025 at 1:48 AM
All arts is memes
Unless you’re a biologist, you don’t
November 14, 2025 at 11:52 PM
Unless you’re a biologist, you don’t
Satanism is just a revival of Ahrimanism...
November 14, 2025 at 10:58 PM
Satanism is just a revival of Ahrimanism...
When did the canons of Westminster become fundamentalists?
November 14, 2025 at 10:56 PM
When did the canons of Westminster become fundamentalists?
I'm in another place now... Instead of going narrow but deep, I'm going broad but shallow. Unless you'd like to hear about the development of biosystematics in the mid19th century?
November 14, 2025 at 10:47 PM
I'm in another place now... Instead of going narrow but deep, I'm going broad but shallow. Unless you'd like to hear about the development of biosystematics in the mid19th century?
Thanks David. I can chase it up through my university library.
When I first got interested in philosophy I undertook to read the entire Kierkegaard corpus. I managed it, and for a long time I had nearly all the books in my library. It was 50 years ago! Oy
When I first got interested in philosophy I undertook to read the entire Kierkegaard corpus. I managed it, and for a long time I had nearly all the books in my library. It was 50 years ago! Oy
November 14, 2025 at 10:13 PM
Thanks David. I can chase it up through my university library.
When I first got interested in philosophy I undertook to read the entire Kierkegaard corpus. I managed it, and for a long time I had nearly all the books in my library. It was 50 years ago! Oy
When I first got interested in philosophy I undertook to read the entire Kierkegaard corpus. I managed it, and for a long time I had nearly all the books in my library. It was 50 years ago! Oy
They're just winging it.
November 14, 2025 at 11:25 AM
They're just winging it.
2/2
I said, and remain convinced 220 years later, that his beggars the meaning of "intelligence" so that rocks that collect at the based of a hill are intelligent.
I said, and remain convinced 220 years later, that his beggars the meaning of "intelligence" so that rocks that collect at the based of a hill are intelligent.
November 13, 2025 at 10:09 AM
2/2
I said, and remain convinced 220 years later, that his beggars the meaning of "intelligence" so that rocks that collect at the based of a hill are intelligent.
I said, and remain convinced 220 years later, that his beggars the meaning of "intelligence" so that rocks that collect at the based of a hill are intelligent.
Absolutely right. I once had a run-in with a rather prestigious biologist who was arguing hat colonies of bacteria are highly intelligence, when all the evidence he adduced showed only that colonies were adapting to gradients of food molecules.
1/2
1/2
November 13, 2025 at 10:09 AM
Absolutely right. I once had a run-in with a rather prestigious biologist who was arguing hat colonies of bacteria are highly intelligence, when all the evidence he adduced showed only that colonies were adapting to gradients of food molecules.
1/2
1/2
Schopenhauer and Kierkegaard in the same room would annihilate each other. Is Bergson acting as a moderator?
November 13, 2025 at 10:03 AM
Schopenhauer and Kierkegaard in the same room would annihilate each other. Is Bergson acting as a moderator?
Never mske tyops myslef
November 10, 2025 at 11:18 AM
Never mske tyops myslef
Not well versed with n medical terminology but I thought it was “etiology”, or if you like diphthongs, “aetiology“, from _aitos_, account or cause.
November 10, 2025 at 10:55 AM
Not well versed with n medical terminology but I thought it was “etiology”, or if you like diphthongs, “aetiology“, from _aitos_, account or cause.
Sir Gustav Nossal
November 9, 2025 at 10:30 PM
Sir Gustav Nossal
Oh, and what about Boltzmann?
November 6, 2025 at 2:27 AM
Oh, and what about Boltzmann?
Hmmm. What about Kelvin or Mach? Even sticking just to physicists, there are numerous candidates.
My favourite in biology is of course Darwin, in general, but then there's Claude Bernard, Carl Vogt, Pasteur, Humboldt, etc.
Or Mendele'ev, Dalton, Liebig. The list of great scientists is rather long.
My favourite in biology is of course Darwin, in general, but then there's Claude Bernard, Carl Vogt, Pasteur, Humboldt, etc.
Or Mendele'ev, Dalton, Liebig. The list of great scientists is rather long.
November 6, 2025 at 2:23 AM
Hmmm. What about Kelvin or Mach? Even sticking just to physicists, there are numerous candidates.
My favourite in biology is of course Darwin, in general, but then there's Claude Bernard, Carl Vogt, Pasteur, Humboldt, etc.
Or Mendele'ev, Dalton, Liebig. The list of great scientists is rather long.
My favourite in biology is of course Darwin, in general, but then there's Claude Bernard, Carl Vogt, Pasteur, Humboldt, etc.
Or Mendele'ev, Dalton, Liebig. The list of great scientists is rather long.
Brisbanians think 28C is cool. They wear sweaters at 24C.
November 6, 2025 at 2:11 AM
Brisbanians think 28C is cool. They wear sweaters at 24C.
Great series but he failed to stick the landing.
November 4, 2025 at 11:40 PM
Great series but he failed to stick the landing.