Roger Sansom

 

Department of Philosophy & Humanities, Texas A&M University,
College Station, TX 77843-4237
Office Phone: (979) 862-6978 Fax: (979) 845-0458
E-mail: r-sansom@philosophy.tamu.edu

 

Education:

·        Ph.D. in Philosophy, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (May 2002).

Dissertation: "Development as an Adaptation: A Philosophical Contribution to the Developmental Synthesis".

·        M.A. in Philosophy, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (1998).

Master's Thesis: "A Metaphysical Defense of an Independently Indeterministic Evolutionary Theory".

·        Honours of Arts in Philosophy, Victoria University of Wellington, N. Z (1995).

·        B. A. in Philosophy, Victoria University of Wellington, N. Z. (1994).

·        Bachelor of Commerce and Administration in Marketing, Victoria University of Wellington, N. Z. (1992).

 

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 Biology
·       Philosophy of Science

Selected Publications:

·      Ingenious Genes: How Gene Regulation Networks Evolve to Control Ontogeny, M.I.T. Press, 2011.

·      "Auxiliary Hypotheses in Evidence and Evolution". Philosophy and Phenomenological Research. Volume 83 (3), 673–682, 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.

·        “The Connectionist Framework for Gene Regulation” 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 Darwin’s Cathedral: Evolution, Religion, and the Nature of Society, by David Sloan Wilson, Biology and Philosophy 18: 743-749, 2003.

·        "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", Philosophy and Social Studies of Biology 2011 Biennial Conference, The University of Utah (July 2011).

·        "Auxiliary Hypotheses in Evidence and Evolution", American Philosophical Association (Central Division) , Minneapolis, MN, (April 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, Duke University (July 2009).

·      "The role of developmental constraint and natural selection in evolutionary explanation.”,  William H. and Lucyle T. Werkmeister Philosophy of Biology Workshop – Florida State University (March 2008).

·      "How far should we bend over for ID?”,  69th Annual meeting of The Southwestern Philosophical Society in San Antonio (Nov. 2007).

·           “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, University of St. Thomas, Houston (March 2006).

·       "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, Florida State University, (March 2005).

·        “The Cultural Evolution of Intelligent Beings”, Colloquium at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand (July 2004).

·        “The Connectionist Theory of Gene Regulation”, Australasian Association of Philosophy Annual Conference, South Molle Island, Australia (July 2004).

·        “Taking Cultural Evolution Seriously, Do Values Evolve?”, William H. and Lucyle T. Werkmeister Philosophy of Biology Workshop – Biology and Values, Florida State University (April 2004).

·        “Empirical Limits on the Theory of Cultural Evolution”, Melbern G. Glasscock Ceneter for Humanities Research conference – Defining Culture: Who, What, Why?, Texas A & M University (April 2004).

·         “Evolvability and the Connectionist Theory of Gene Control Networks”, The International Congress of Logic Methodology and Philosophy of Science. Oviedo, Spain (August 2003).

·         “Redundancy and the Connectionist Theory of Gene Control Networks”, International Society for the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology, Biennial Conference in Vienna, Austria (July 2003).

·        “Constraining the Adaptationism Debate”, Duke Center for Philosophy of Biology

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 Victoria University of Wellington (June 1999).

·        “A Solution to the Difficulty of Development”,

• The Development Group, The University of Texas at Austin (April 2002).

·        "Ingenious Genes and the Difficulty of Development",

• William H. and Lucyle T. Werkmeister Philosophy of Biology Workshop, Florida State University (March 2002).

·        "How Ingenious Genes Overcome the Difficulty of Development",

• Department of Philosophy at Brooklyn College (Dec. 2001)

• Department of Philosophy at Texas A & M University (Feb. 2002)

• Department of Philosophy at University of Western Ontario (Feb. 2002)

• Faculty of Rhodes College (Feb. 2002)

• Department of Philosophy at Towson University (Feb. 2002)

• Department of Philosophy at The University of Indiana Purdue University at Indianapolis (Feb. 2002)

·        "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 Quinnipiac University  (July 2001).

·        "Constraining the Adaptationism Debate", Australasian Association of Philosophy, New Zealand division annual conference (Dec. 2000).

·        "Constraining the Adaptationism Debate", Philosophy Society, Research School of the Social Sciences, Australia National University (Nov. 2000).

·        "Supervenience, Determinism and Reality", North Carolina Philosophical Society and South Carolina Philosophical Society (Feb. 2000).

·        "A Metaphysical Defense of an Independently Indeterministic Evolutionary Theory", International Society for the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biennial Conference in Oaxaca, Mexico (July 1999).

 

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 Midland Naturalist.

·        Referee for Acta Biotheoretica.

·        Manuscript Referee for Harvard University Press.

·        Manuscript Referee for Oxford University Press.

 

Awards:

·       Student Lead Association for Teaching Excellence (SLATE) Award, Texas A&M University, 2009.

·        Philosophy Fellow, Glasscock Center for Humanities Research, Texas A&M University, 2003-2004.

·        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 Colton Williams Fellowship, UNC Philosophy Department, 1996.

·        Mary Stuart Graduate Scholarship, Victoria University of Wellington, 1996.

 

Teaching Experience:

·        Texas A.& M. University

      • Philosophy of Biology (graduate seminar)

• Philosophy of Science (graduate seminar, undergraduate course)

• Philosophy of Social Science

• Introduction to Philosophy

• Religion and Science (co-taught with Dr. Shaun Longstreet)

·        University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• 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.

·        Victoria University of Wellington

• Teaching Assistant: Problems in Philosophy, Introduction to Philosophy.