Alirio Rosales: Scientific Theories as Narratives

Date: 
Thu., Oct. 18, 2012, 5:00pm

Thursday, Oct. 18, 5:00-6:30pm, Buchanan Tower Room 1197
ALIRIO ROSALES, Department of Philosophy, UBC

Scientific theories are often contrasted with narratives. Theories are general; narratives are particular. But narratives can also be general and play constitutive roles in theoretical representations of the world. I will argue that some scientific theories are irreducibly narrative. My examples come from evolutionary biology.  Recognizing the essentially narrative character of certain evolutionary theories helps, I argue, to solve some otherwise perplexing issues in the history of evolutionary biology.