More Suggested Essay Topics

Here are some further topic ideas you might think about for your first essays. Note that you should not simply think of yourself as answering these questions: you should develop a specific thesis and argue for it carefully, in depth. I am also happy to direct you to further readings on your chosen topic (the Sober collection is generally a good place to start, as is the Sterelny and Griffiths book).

• Examine the merits of evolutionary psychology. Clearly, some of its proponents go too far; does it ever provide us with genuine illumination about certain features of our society or psychology?
• Are Buller and Haufe's criticisms completely fair or is there some way for evolutionary psychologists to respond?
• Does Neander succeed at making room for teleology (proper functions) in a mechanistic world? Evaluate her case.
• Paul Davies argues that the systemic capacity theory of functions actually subsumes selected effects functions — does he succeed?
• Are “malfunctions” impossible? Davies claims so in his paper “Malfunctions” [PDF] (the argument is also sketched in his “The Nature of Natural Norms”). Evaluate this claim.
• Dupré and Kitcher suggest that we ought to be pluralists about natural kinds. Evaluate their arguments.
• What are the prospects for natural kinds essentialism? Does Devitt make a compelling case for recognize at least partly intrinsic essences?