User:Erik L. Peterson

Soon-to-be newly minted Ph.D. (Dec. 2009) in History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Notre Dame. Prior academic and professional work in anthropology and archaeology (The Ohio State University). Presently, I work on the history and philosophy of evolutionary, molecular, and organismal biology plus the influence of these fields on the social sciences. I am particularly interested in the age-old debate between ontological reductionists and holists, which in recent decades has motivated some of the biology known as "evo-devo" (see, especially, the work of Scott Gilbert and Sahotra Sarkar). As abstract as these highfalutin issues are, I think they become quite practical when we use them as a filter for a lot of the "genes-for" talk bandied about by the mainstream media, academic education, the "new" atheism, pop psychology and anthropology, etc. I suspect many of these issues are also at the heart of fierce ethical debates over genetic engineering and (new) eugenics.

Aside from academic debates, I love: all things indie music, playing outside with my family and pets, the slow-foods movement, college football, wearing sandals in the snow, and aged cheese.