Roger
Sansom
Department
of Philosophy & Humanities,
Office Phone: (979) 862-6978 Fax: (979) 845-0458
E-mail: r-sansom@philosophy.tamu.edu
Education:
· Ph.D. in Philosophy,
Dissertation: "Development as an Adaptation: A
Philosophical Contribution to the Developmental Synthesis".
·
M.A. in Philosophy, University of
Master's Thesis: "A Metaphysical Defense of an
Independently Indeterministic Evolutionary Theory".
·
Honours of Arts in Philosophy,
·
B. A. in Philosophy,
·
Bachelor of Commerce and
Administration in Marketing,
Positions Held:
·
Associate Professor of Philosophy, Texas A & M
University 2008 - present
·
Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Texas A & M
University 2002 - 2008
Areas of Specialization:
Philosophy of
Science, Philosophy of Biology.
Publications:
· Ingenious Genes: How
Gene Regulation Networks Evolve to Control Ontogeny, M.I.T. Press
(forthcoming October 2011).
·
“The Nature of Developmental Constraints and the
Difference-Maker Argument for Externalism”Biology
and Philosophy. 24(4):.441-459,
2009.
· “The Nature of Constraints” Form and Function in Evo Devo, Cambridge Studies
in Philosophy and Biology, edited By Manfred Laubichler, Jane Maienschein, and
Jorge Wagensberg, Cambridge University Press, 2009.
· “Countering Kauffman with Connectionism: two views of gene
regulation” forthcoming in The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science
59(2):169-200, 2008.
·
“Why Gene Regulation Networks are Connectionist Networks”
forthcoming in Biology and Philosophy. 23(4):.475-491, 2008.
· "Evolvability" The
Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Biology, edited by Michael Ruse, Oxford
University Press 2008.
· Integrating Evolution and Development: From
Theory to Practice, coedited
with Robert Brandon, M.I.T. Press, 2007.
·
"Legacies of Adaptive Development", in Integrating
Evolution and Development (above, 2007).
·
"Constraining the Adaptationism
Debate", Biology and Philosophy 18: 493-512, 2003.
·
"Why Evolution is Really Indeterministic",
Synthese 136: 263-280, 2003.
Book Reviews:
· “Now, Would Each Group Please Select a Religion”, review of
· "A Definitive Case for Group Selection", review of
Unto Others – the Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior, by
Elliot Sober and David Sloan Wilson, Complexity, Volume 5, Issue 2,
1999.
· Review of Other Minds, by Alec Hyslop,
Minds and Machines, vol. 6, number 3, August 1996.
Papers Presented:
· “An Empirical Approach
to the Form/Function/Adaptationism Issue”,
International Society for the History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Biology
2009 Biennial Conference, Salt Lake City (July 2011).
· “Selection and
constraint in evolutionary change: a case study on crossbills”, co-authored
Pim (W.M.C.) Edelaar, International Society for the
History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Biology 2009 Biennial Conference, Brisbane,
Australia (July 2009).
· “Homology - an
expression of selection or constraints?” co-authored Pim
(W.M.C.) Edelaar, Form, Function and Homology: Duke's 8th Annual Conference in
Philosophy & Biology and the Annual Consortium for the History and
Philosophy of Biology,
· "The role of developmental constraint and natural
selection in evolutionary explanation.”, William H. and Lucyle T. Werkmeister Philosophy of Biology Workshop –
· "How far should we bend over for ID?”, 69th Annual meeting of The
Southwestern Philosophical Society in
·
“Why
Gene Regulation Networks Are the Controllers of Ontogeny”, International Society for the History, Philosophy,
and Social Studies of Biology 2007 Biennial Conference in Exeter,
United Kingdom (July 2007).
·
"Could Organisms Have Evolved
by Natural Selection?
The Difficulties of Denying Selectionism", The Center for Thomistic
Studies,
· "Countering
Kauffman: The natural selection of gene regulation networks", International Society for the
History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology 2005 Biennial
Conference in Guelph, Canada (July 2005).
· “Accounting for Natural Selection and Constraints”, William H. and Lucyle T. Werkmeister Conference - Form and Function in Biology,
· “The Cultural Evolution of Intelligent Beings”, Colloquium at
· “The Connectionist Theory of Gene Regulation”, Australasian Association of Philosophy Annual Conference,
· “Taking Cultural Evolution Seriously, Do Values Evolve?”, William H. and Lucyle T. Werkmeister Philosophy of Biology Workshop – Biology and
Values,
· “Empirical Limits on the Theory of Cultural Evolution”, Melbern G. Glasscock Ceneter for Humanities Research conference – Defining
Culture: Who, What, Why?,
· “Evolvability and the Connectionist Theory of Gene
Control Networks”, The International Congress of
Logic Methodology and Philosophy of Science.
· “Redundancy and the Connectionist Theory of Gene
Control Networks”, International Society for the History, Philosophy, and
Social Studies of Biology, Biennial Conference in
· “Constraining the Adaptationism
Debate”,
Second Annual
Conference on Recent Work in Biology and Philosophy
25 Years after the
Panglossian Spandrels - A Conference on Adaptationism.
· “Unisonant Selection for Redundancy”, Current Philosophical Issues in Science Seminar in the
Wildlife and Fisheries Science Department TAMU (Nov. 2002)
· "Why Evolution is Really Indeterministic",
• Central TX
Philosophy of Science Consortium (TAMU Sep. 2002)
•
Department of Philosophy at
· “A Solution to the Difficulty of Development”,
• The Development
Group, The
·
"Ingenious Genes and the
Difficulty of Development",
• William H. and Lucyle T. Werkmeister Philosophy
of Biology Workshop,
· "How Ingenious Genes Overcome the Difficulty of
Development",
• Department of
Philosophy at
• Department of
Philosophy at
• Department of
Philosophy at
• Faculty of
• Department of
Philosophy at
• Department of Philosophy at The
University of
· "The dynamics of the Evo-Devo
debate, a Commentary on "Evolutionary Developmental Biology: Evolutionary
Biology in the Context of Development" ,
by Jason Scott Robert", American Association of Professional Philosophers
- Eastern Division (Dec. 2001).
· "Adaptive Development and Trends in Evolution", International Society for the History, Philosophy, and
Social Studies of Biology, Biennial Conference at
· "Constraining the Adaptationism
Debate", Australasian Association of
Philosophy,
· "Constraining the Adaptationism
Debate", Philosophy Society,
· "Supervenience, Determinism
and Reality",
· "A Metaphysical Defense of an Independently Indeterministic Evolutionary Theory", International Society for the History, Philosophy, and
Social Studies of Biennial Conference in
Professional Activities:
· Hosted session on Evolution and Development at the Future
Directions in the the History, Philosophy and Social
Studies of Biology workshop, sponsored by the International Society in the
History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Biology, University of San Francisco
(September 2004)
·
Referee for Biology and Philosophy.
·
Referee for Integrative Zoology.
·
Referee for Acta Biotheoretica.
· Referee for The British Journal
for the Philosophy of Science.
· Referee for The Australasian
Journal of Philosophy.
·
Referee for Complexity.
·
Referee for American
·
Referee for Acta Biotheoretica.
· Manuscript Referee for
· Manuscript Referee for
Awards:
· Student Lead Association for Teaching Excellence (SLATE) Award,
· Philosophy Fellow,
·
Henry Horace Williams Fellowship, UNC Philosophy Department,
1999-2002.
·
Graham Kenan Fellowship, UNC
Philosophy Department, 1997-1998.
·
Mary Taylor Williams Fellowship, UNC Philosophy Department,
1997.
·
Summer Research Fellowship, UNC Philosophy Department, 1997.
·
Bertha
·
Mary Stuart Graduate Scholarship,
Teaching Experience:
·
• Philosophy of
Science (graduate seminar, undergraduate course)
• Philosophy of
Social Science
• Introduction to
Philosophy
• Religion and
Science (co-taught with Dr. Shaun Longstreet)
·
• Teaching Assistant Coordinator: charged with
observing and furthering the development of graduate student teachers, liaison
to university teaching resources and development of the position of teaching
assistant coordinator for the philosophy department (2001-2002).
• Full Responsibility: Philosophy of Science, Main Problems
in Philosophy, Introduction to Ethics, Bioethics.
• Teaching Assistant: Introduction to Ethics, Main Problems
in Philosophy.
·
• Teaching Assistant: Problems in Philosophy, Introduction
to Philosophy.
Advising Experience:
• 2004-2005
Jamie Schroeder committee chair.
• 2003-2004 Jamie
Schroeder committee chair.
• 2002-2003 Deke
Gould committee member