Brian David Ellis
Encyclopedia
Brian Ellis is an Emeritus Professor in the philosophy department at La Trobe University
in Victoria, Australia. He is one of the major proponents of the New Essentialist school of philosophy of science (philosophy of nature).
In The Philosophy of Nature: A Guide to the New Essentialism, he groups a number of philosophers into his camp:
However, this list of claimed allies has been disputed by Stephen Mumford
, at least with regard to "Shoemaker, Martin, Molnar, Heil and Cartwright."
La Trobe University
La Trobe University is a multi-campus university in Victoria, Australia. It was established in 1964 by an Act of Parliament to become the third oldest university in the state of Victoria. The main campus of La Trobe is located in the Melbourne suburb of Bundoora; two other major campuses are...
in Victoria, Australia. He is one of the major proponents of the New Essentialist school of philosophy of science (philosophy of nature).
In The Philosophy of Nature: A Guide to the New Essentialism, he groups a number of philosophers into his camp:
-
- The new essentialismEssentialismIn philosophy, essentialism is the view that, for any specific kind of entity, there is a set of characteristics or properties all of which any entity of that kind must possess. Therefore all things can be precisely defined or described...
has evolved from these beginnings and can reasonably claim to be a comprehensive philosophy of nature. Philosophers around the world, including Sydney Shoemaker, Charles Martin, George Molnar, George Bealer, John Bigelow, Caroline Lierse, Evan Fales, Crawford Elder, Nicholas Maxwell, Nancy Cartwright and John Heil, have contributed to in various ways to its development. So the new essentialism is not just a personal view, but an emerging metaphysical perspective that is the culmination of many different attempts to arrive at a satisfactory post-Humean philosophy of nature.
- The new essentialism
However, this list of claimed allies has been disputed by Stephen Mumford
Stephen Mumford
Stephen Dean Mumford is a philosopher and Professor of Metaphysics at The University of Nottingham. Mumford is best known for his work on dispositions and laws, his main work is a monograph on the metaphysics of natural laws entitled "Laws in Nature" and he is often cited for his first major...
, at least with regard to "Shoemaker, Martin, Molnar, Heil and Cartwright."
Selected publications
- The Metaphysics of Scientific Realism (Montreal : McGill-Queen's University Press, 2010). ISBN 9780773536968
- The Philosophy of Nature: A Guide to the New Essentialism 2002. ISBN 0773524746
- Scientific Essentialism 2001. ISBN 9780521800945
- Truth and Objectivity (Cambridge, Mass.: Basil Blackwell, 1991). ISBN 0631153977
- "What Science Aims to Do," in Images of Science: Essays on Realism and Empiricism, with a Reply from Bas C. van Fraassen, ed. P. Churchland and C. Hooker, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985), 48–74.
- Rational belief systems (Totowa, N.J. : Rowman and Littlefield, 1979).
- Basic concepts of measurement (Cambridge University Press, 1966).
- "The Origin and Nature of Newton's Laws of Motion" in Beyond the Edge of Certainty. ed. R. G. Colodny. (Pittsburgh: University Pittsburgh Press, 1965).
- "Has the universe a beginning in time?", Australasian Journal of Philosophy 33:1 (1955), 32–37.
Mentioned In
- Marc Lange, Laws and Lawmakers: Science, Metaphysics, and the Laws of Nature (Oxford University Press, 2009).
- Alexander Bird, Nature's Metaphysics: Laws and Properties (Oxford University Press, 2010).