Dr. John Beatty

John Beatty (Philosophy) teaches history and philosophy of science, and social and political philosophy, in the Department of Philosophy at UBC. His research focuses on the theoretical foundations, methodology, and socio-political dimensions of genetics and evolutionary biology. His current research projects concern more specifically: 1) contingency, necessity, chance and design, since Darwin, 2) changing conceptions of history, science, scientific history and historical science, since Darwin, 3) changing relationships between biology and the state, from the Manhattan Project to the Human Genome Project, and 4) changing conceptions of scientific authority, especially in connection with biology and society.

  • “Reconsidering the Importance of Chance Variation.” In Gerd Müller and Massimo Pigliucci (eds.), Evolution: The Extended Synthesis, Cambridge: MIT Press, 2010.
  • “Should We Aim for Consensus?” co-authored with Alfred Moore, Episteme 7: 198–214, 2010.
  • “When What Had to Happen Was Not Bound to Happen: History, Chance, Narrative, Evolution.” co-authored with Isabel Carrera, Journal of the Philosophy of History, in press.


John Beatty, Department of Philosophy

Professor (B.Sc. Tulane University, Ph.D. Indiana University)
Office: Buchanan E278
Telephone: (604) 822-2444
Email: john.beatty@ubc.ca
Website: http://faculty.arts.ubc.ca/jbeatty/

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