Anya Plutynski
Associate Professor, Philosophy
Affiliated Faculty, Honors College
Affiliated Faculty, Environmental Humanities Graduate Program
Philosophy
Carolyn Tanner Irish Humanities Building
215 South Central Campus Drive, 4th Floor
Salt Lake City, Ut 84112
Office Hours: Thursdays, 2-4
Office Phone: (801) 581-7424
Email:
>> Curriculum Vitae
Degrees:
2001 Ph.D. Philosophy University of Pennsylvania
2000 M.A. Biology University of Pennsylvania
1994 B.A. University of Chicago
Plutynski joined the faculty in Fall of 2001. Her research is in history and philosophy of science, and has so far focused particularly evolutionary biology in the early 20th century. She has written on the role of models and idealizations in scientific explanation. She also has interests in environmental science and policy. Here is a link to the Philosophy of Biology lab group page at the University of Utah:
http://www.phylosophy.org/lab
Selected Publications:
The Blackwell's Companion to Philosophy of Biology, Co-Edited with Sahotra Sarkar
(Book), 2008
[text]
Ecology and the Environment, in Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Biology
(Book Section), 2008
[text]
Evolution, The Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy of Science
(Book Section),
Theoretical Population Genetics, The Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy of Science
(Book Section),
Explaining How and Explaining Why: Developmental and Evolutionary Explanations of Dominance
(Journal Article), 2008
[text]
"Drift: A Historical and Conceptual Overview" Biological Theory
(Journal Article), 2007
[text]
"What was Fisher's fundamental theorem of natural selection...?" Studies in the History and Philosophy of the Biological and Biomedical Sciences
(Journal Article), 2006
"Explanatory Unification and the Early Synthesis," British Journal for the Philosophy of Science
(Journal Article), 2005
[abstract]
[text]
Explanation in Classical Population Genetics, Proceedings of the Philosophy of Science Association
(Journal Article),
Modeling Evolution in Theory and Practice, Proceedings of the Philosophy of Science Association
(Journal Article),
Parsimony and the Fisher-Wright Debate, Biology and Philosophy
(Journal Article),
Research Statement
My areas of research are history and philosophy of science, with a special focus in biology. Most of my work until recently has been on population genetics in the early 20th Century - the early synthesis of genetics and evolution with the work of J.B.S. Haldane, Sewall Wright, and R. A. Fisher. Recently, my research has been on integrating disciplinary perspectives and levels of explanation in the biological sciences. I am also undertaking a new project on cancer; my ultimate goal is a book on how we study cancer, and the variety of both ethical and epistemological issues surrounding cancer research; I'm interested in inferences about causation in epidemiological research, and how estimates of risk and toxicity are derived from studies using model organisms.
Research Keywords, Regions of Interest and Languages:
Keywords:
History of Biology (2); Philosophy of biology (7); Philosophy of Science (12); cancer (6); Environmental Ethics (5); history of science, environmental, 20th c. US; Public Health (10); Toxicology (2)
Courses I Teach
HONOR 2103 Honors Core in Intellectual Tradition III: the rise of Modernity
PHIL 3350 Hist & Phil Science
PHIL 3530 Environmental Ethics
PHIL 4120 Early Modern Philosophy
PHIL 6350 Topics Phil Science
Awards
2008
Environmental Humanities Professorship - Environmental Humanities Graduate Program
2007
Applied Ethics Grant, 2006-7 - University Applied Ethics Committee
2006
Honors Professorship 2006-7 - Honors Program--University of Utah
2006
Faculty Fellow Award - University of Utah
2005
Fellowship for Applied Ethics and Human Values - University of Utah
2004
Dibner Institute Fellow - Dibner Institute for the History of Science
2003
NEH Summer Fellow - National Endowment for the Humanities