Delisle, Richard
Faculty
- Phone
- (403) 380-1861
- richard.delisle@uleth.ca
Faculty
- Phone
- (403) 380-1861
About Me
STUDIES
2007-2008: Postdoctoral studies with Professor Robert J. Richards in the Committee on Conceptual and Historical Studies of Science, The University of Chicago.
2007: Ph.D. thesis in philosophy
Title: Le néo-darwinisme et la question de l'homme: Tensions épistémologiques et métaphysiques.
Supervisor: François Duchesneau
Co-supervisor: Frédéric Bouchard
Department of philosophy, Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada.
2000-2001: Postdoctoral studies with Professor Henry t t t de Lumley at the Institut de Paléontologie Humaine, Muséum National tt d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France.
1999: Ph.D. thesis in paleoanthropology
Title: The Field of Human Evolution Within Evolutionary Biology and Anthropology: Historical and Epistemological Analyses Since Inception.
Supervisor: Phillip V. Tobias
Palaeo-anthropology Research Group, Department of Anatomical Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
2007-2008: Postdoctoral studies with Professor Robert J. Richards in the Committee on Conceptual and Historical Studies of Science, The University of Chicago.
2007: Ph.D. thesis in philosophy
Title: Le néo-darwinisme et la question de l'homme: Tensions épistémologiques et métaphysiques.
Supervisor: François Duchesneau
Co-supervisor: Frédéric Bouchard
Department of philosophy, Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada.
2000-2001: Postdoctoral studies with Professor Henry t t t de Lumley at the Institut de Paléontologie Humaine, Muséum National tt d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France.
1999: Ph.D. thesis in paleoanthropology
Title: The Field of Human Evolution Within Evolutionary Biology and Anthropology: Historical and Epistemological Analyses Since Inception.
Supervisor: Phillip V. Tobias
Palaeo-anthropology Research Group, Department of Anatomical Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Biography
BOOK SERIES
Founder and Editor of the Book Series "Evolutionary Biology: New Perspectives on its Development" with Springer Nature since Fall 2018
PUBLICATIONS
Monographs:t
2022 (with James Tierney): Rereading Darwin's Origin of Species: The Hesitations of an Evolutionist (London: Bloomsbury Academic)
2019: Charles Darwin's Incomplete Revolution: The Origin of Species and the Static Worldview (Switzerland: Springer Nature).
2009: Les philosophies du néo-darwinisme: Conceptions divergentes sur l'homme et le sens de l'évolution (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France). Foreword by Jean Gayon.
2007: Debating Humankind's Place in Nature, 1860-2000: The Nature of Paleoanthropology (New Jersey: Pearson/Prentice Hall). Foreword by Milford H. Wolpoff and Afterword by Bernard Wood.
Edited volumes (editor and guest editor):
2024: Unity and Disunity in Evolutionary Biology: Deconstructing Darwinism (Switzerland: Springer Nature). 20 papers published as an edited volume under the editorship of myself, Maurizio Esposito and David Ceccarelli.
2021: Natural Selection: Revisiting its Explanatory Role in Evolutionary Biology (Switzerland: Springer Nature). 15 papers published as an edited volume under my editorship (Editor).
2017: The Darwinian Tradition in Context: Research Programs in tEvolutionary Biology (Switzerland: Springer Nature). 15 papers published as an edited volume under my editorship (Editor).
2014: Charles Darwin and Scientific Revolutions. 12 papers published as a special issue of the American journal "Endeavour", under my editorship (Guest Editor), Volume 38, No. 3-4 (September/December).
2012: Human Evolution Across Disciplines: Through the Looking Glass of History and Epistemology. 13 papers published as a special volume of the Italian journal "History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences," under my editorship (Guest Editor), Volume 34, No. 1-2 (March/June).
2011: Defining Darwinism: One Hundred and Fifty Years of Debate. 14 articles published as a special volume of the British journal "Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences" under my editorship (Guest Editor), Volume 42, No. 1 (March).
Published articles:
2024: "Deconstructing Darwinism with Darwin, Mayr, and Gould: Through the Lens of Evolutionary Contingency", in R.G. Delisle, M. Esposito, and D. Ceccarelli (eds.), Unity and Disunity in Evolutionary Biology: Deconstructing Darwinism (Switzerland: Springer Nature), pp. 163-246.
2024: "Toward a New Historiography", in R.G. Delisle, M. Esposito, and D. Ceccarelli (eds.), Unity and Disunity in Evolutionary Biology: Deconstructing Darwinism (Switzerland: Springer Nature), pp. 3-7. The first author is D. Ceccarelli, the second author is M. Esposito, and the third author is myself.
2022: "Dobzhansky (1900-1975)", in M. Lequin and A. Piette (eds.), Dictionnaire des anthropologies (Paris : Presses Universitaires de Paris Nanterre), pp. 309-316.
2021: "Natural Selection as a Mere Auxiliary Hypothesis (sensu stricto I. Lakatos) in Charles Darwin's Origin of Species," in R.G. Delisle (ed.), Natural Selection: Revisiting its Explanatory Role in the Development of Evolutionary Biology (Switzerland: Springer Nature), pp. 73-104.
2021: "Introduction: In Search of a New Paradigm for the Development of tEvolutionary Biology," in R.G. Delisle (ed.), Natural Selection: Revisiting its tExplanatory Role in the Development of Evolutionary Biology (Switzerland: Springer Nature), pp. 1-8.
2018: "The Deceiving Search for 'Missing Links' in Human Evolution, 1860-2010: Do Paleoanthropologists Always Work in the Best Interests of Their Discipline?", in J. H. Schwartz (ed.), Rethinking Human Evolution (Cambridge: M.I.T. Press), pp. 1-30.
2017: "Introduction: Darwinism or a Kaleidoscope of Research Programs and Ideas?," in R. G. Delisle (ed.), The Darwinian Tradition in Context: Research Programs in Evolutionary Biology (Springer: Switzerland), pp. 1-8.
2017: "From Charles Darwin to the Evolutionary Synthesis: Weak and Diffused Connections Only," in R. G. Delisle (ed.), The Darwinian Tradition in Context: Research Programs in Evolutionary Biology (Springer: Switzerland), pp. 133-t167.
2014: "Can a Revolution Hide Another One? Charles Darwin and the Scientific Revolution", in R.G. Delisle, (ed.), Charles Darwin and Scientific Revolutions, special issue of Endeavour, Vol. 38 (3/4): 157-158.
2014: "Evolution in a Fully Constituted World: Charles Darwin's Debts Towards a Static World in the Origin of Species (1859)", in R.G. Delisle, (ed.), Charles Darwin and Scientific Revolutions, special issue of Endeavour, tVol. 38 (3/4): 197-210.
2013: "La quête illusoire du chaînon manquant", La Recherche, No. 479 (September), p. t50-54.
2012: "Human Evolution, Theories of: Introduction," Oxford Companion to Archaeology, 2nd edition. Neal A. Silberman (ed.), Vol. 2, p. 21-26. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
2012: Book review of "Qu'est-ce que le néolamarckisme," L. Loison, Paris: Vuibert Press, 2010, 248 pages. History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences, 34 (3): 504-506.
2012: "Human Evolution: An Agenda History, Philosophy, and Social Studies," in R.G. Delisle (ed.), Human Evolution Across Disciplines: Through the Looking Glass of History and Epistemology, special issue of History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences, Vol. 34 (1-2): 3-7.
2012: "The Disciplinary and Epistemological Structure of Paleo-anthropology: One Hundred and Fifty Years of Development," in R.G. tDelisle (ed.), Human Evolution Across Disciplines: Through the Looking Glass of History and tEpistemology, special issue of History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences, Vol. 34 (1-2): 283-329.
2012: "Welcome to the Twilight Zone: A Forgotten Early Phase of Human tEvolutionary Studies," Endeavour, 36 (2): 55-64.
2011: "L'humanité controversée de Néanderthal," [Introduction, selection, and edition of historical texts], Les Dossiers de La Recherche (Paris), No. 45 (October), pp. 64-t75. Special volume on Neanderthal man.
2011: "Précis de Les philosophies du néo-darwinisme," Philosophiques, 38(1): 263-265.
2011: "Réponses à mes critiques," Philosophiques, 38(1): 285-303.
2011: "Foreword: Celebrating Charles Darwin in Disagreement," in R.G. Delisle (ed.), Defining Darwinism: One Hundred and Fifty Years of Debate, special issue of Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, 42: 1.
2011: "What Was Really Synthesized During the Evolutionary Synthesis?: A Historiographic Proposal," in R.G. Delisle (ed.), Defining Darwinism: One Hundred and Fifty Years of Debate, special issue of Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, 42: 50-59.
2010: "Recently United Humanity," Lethbridge Herald (the Public Professor Column), Saturday, October 23, page A4.
2009: "The Uncertain Foundation of Neo-Darwinism: Metaphysical and Epistemological Pluralism in the Evolutionary Synthesis," Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, 40: 119-132.
2008: "La sélection naturelle à l'échelle cosmique," Les Dossiers de La Recherche (Paris), No. 33, pp. 64-67.
2008: "Expanding the Framework of the Holism/Reductionism Debate in Neo-Darwinism: The Case of Theodosius Dobzhansky and Bernhard Rensch," History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences, Vol. 30: 207-226.
2008: "Consensus autour de l'évolution humaine," Les Dossiers de La Recherche (Paris), No. 32 (August-October), pp. 6-9.
2006: "Un ancêtre à géométrie variable," Les Dossiers de La Recherche, No. 24 (August-October), pp. 12-17.
2006: "Un ancêtre à géométrie variable," in Neandertal, Paris: Tallandier, pp. 19-28. Originally published in Les Dossiers de La Recherche (2006) and reprinted in this volume.
2005: "Et l'homme quitta les singes," in Homo sapiens: L'odyssée de l'espèce, B. Cyrulnik (ed.), Paris: Tallandier, pp. 15-27. Originally published in La Recherche (2004) and selected for this anthology.
2004: "Et l'homme quitta les singes," La Recherche, No. 377 (July-August)), pp. 46-51.
2002: "Evolutionary Biology and Linguistics: The Nature and Implication of a Disciplinary Integration," Selection, 3: 29-44.
2001: "Adaptationism versus cladism in human evolution studies," in Studying Human Origins: Disciplinary History and Epistemology, R. Corbey and W. Roebroeks (eds.), Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, pp. 107-121.
2000: "The Biology/Culture Link in Human Evolution, 1750-1950: The Problem of Integration in Science," Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, 31: 531-556.
2000: "Construire l'arbre phylétique de l'homme: fossiles, théories et cadres interprétatifs," L'Anthropologie (Paris), 104: 489-521.
1998: "Les origines de la paléontologie humaine: essai de réinterprétation", L'Anthropologie (Paris), 102 (1): 3-19.
1998: "La généalogie de l'Homme et l'archéologie préhistorique, 1900-1950: une synthèse difficile", in La culture est-elle naturelle? Histoire, Épistémologie et Applications récentes du Concept de Culture, A. Ducros, J. Ducros et F. Joulian (eds.), Paris: Editions Errance, pp. 71-82.
1997: "Dobzhansky, Theodosius (1900-1975)", in History of Physical Anthropology: An Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, F. Spencer (ed.), New York: Garland, pp. 349-351.
1997: "Mayr, Ernst (1904-)", in History of Physical Anthropology: An Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, F. Spencer (ed.), New York: Garland, pp. 650-651.
1997: "Simpson, George Gaylord (1902-1984)", in History of Physical Anthropology: An Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, F. Spencer (ed.), New York: Garland, pp. 932-933.
1995: "Human Palaeontology and the Evolutionary Synthesis during the Decade 1950-1960", in Ape, Man, Apeman: Changing Views since 1600, R. Corbey et B. Theunissen (eds.), Leiden: Leiden University, 1995, pp. 217-228.
Founder and Editor of the Book Series "Evolutionary Biology: New Perspectives on its Development" with Springer Nature since Fall 2018
PUBLICATIONS
Monographs:t
2022 (with James Tierney): Rereading Darwin's Origin of Species: The Hesitations of an Evolutionist (London: Bloomsbury Academic)
2019: Charles Darwin's Incomplete Revolution: The Origin of Species and the Static Worldview (Switzerland: Springer Nature).
2009: Les philosophies du néo-darwinisme: Conceptions divergentes sur l'homme et le sens de l'évolution (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France). Foreword by Jean Gayon.
2007: Debating Humankind's Place in Nature, 1860-2000: The Nature of Paleoanthropology (New Jersey: Pearson/Prentice Hall). Foreword by Milford H. Wolpoff and Afterword by Bernard Wood.
Edited volumes (editor and guest editor):
2024: Unity and Disunity in Evolutionary Biology: Deconstructing Darwinism (Switzerland: Springer Nature). 20 papers published as an edited volume under the editorship of myself, Maurizio Esposito and David Ceccarelli.
2021: Natural Selection: Revisiting its Explanatory Role in Evolutionary Biology (Switzerland: Springer Nature). 15 papers published as an edited volume under my editorship (Editor).
2017: The Darwinian Tradition in Context: Research Programs in tEvolutionary Biology (Switzerland: Springer Nature). 15 papers published as an edited volume under my editorship (Editor).
2014: Charles Darwin and Scientific Revolutions. 12 papers published as a special issue of the American journal "Endeavour", under my editorship (Guest Editor), Volume 38, No. 3-4 (September/December).
2012: Human Evolution Across Disciplines: Through the Looking Glass of History and Epistemology. 13 papers published as a special volume of the Italian journal "History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences," under my editorship (Guest Editor), Volume 34, No. 1-2 (March/June).
2011: Defining Darwinism: One Hundred and Fifty Years of Debate. 14 articles published as a special volume of the British journal "Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences" under my editorship (Guest Editor), Volume 42, No. 1 (March).
Published articles:
2024: "Deconstructing Darwinism with Darwin, Mayr, and Gould: Through the Lens of Evolutionary Contingency", in R.G. Delisle, M. Esposito, and D. Ceccarelli (eds.), Unity and Disunity in Evolutionary Biology: Deconstructing Darwinism (Switzerland: Springer Nature), pp. 163-246.
2024: "Toward a New Historiography", in R.G. Delisle, M. Esposito, and D. Ceccarelli (eds.), Unity and Disunity in Evolutionary Biology: Deconstructing Darwinism (Switzerland: Springer Nature), pp. 3-7. The first author is D. Ceccarelli, the second author is M. Esposito, and the third author is myself.
2022: "Dobzhansky (1900-1975)", in M. Lequin and A. Piette (eds.), Dictionnaire des anthropologies (Paris : Presses Universitaires de Paris Nanterre), pp. 309-316.
2021: "Natural Selection as a Mere Auxiliary Hypothesis (sensu stricto I. Lakatos) in Charles Darwin's Origin of Species," in R.G. Delisle (ed.), Natural Selection: Revisiting its Explanatory Role in the Development of Evolutionary Biology (Switzerland: Springer Nature), pp. 73-104.
2021: "Introduction: In Search of a New Paradigm for the Development of tEvolutionary Biology," in R.G. Delisle (ed.), Natural Selection: Revisiting its tExplanatory Role in the Development of Evolutionary Biology (Switzerland: Springer Nature), pp. 1-8.
2018: "The Deceiving Search for 'Missing Links' in Human Evolution, 1860-2010: Do Paleoanthropologists Always Work in the Best Interests of Their Discipline?", in J. H. Schwartz (ed.), Rethinking Human Evolution (Cambridge: M.I.T. Press), pp. 1-30.
2017: "Introduction: Darwinism or a Kaleidoscope of Research Programs and Ideas?," in R. G. Delisle (ed.), The Darwinian Tradition in Context: Research Programs in Evolutionary Biology (Springer: Switzerland), pp. 1-8.
2017: "From Charles Darwin to the Evolutionary Synthesis: Weak and Diffused Connections Only," in R. G. Delisle (ed.), The Darwinian Tradition in Context: Research Programs in Evolutionary Biology (Springer: Switzerland), pp. 133-t167.
2014: "Can a Revolution Hide Another One? Charles Darwin and the Scientific Revolution", in R.G. Delisle, (ed.), Charles Darwin and Scientific Revolutions, special issue of Endeavour, Vol. 38 (3/4): 157-158.
2014: "Evolution in a Fully Constituted World: Charles Darwin's Debts Towards a Static World in the Origin of Species (1859)", in R.G. Delisle, (ed.), Charles Darwin and Scientific Revolutions, special issue of Endeavour, tVol. 38 (3/4): 197-210.
2013: "La quête illusoire du chaînon manquant", La Recherche, No. 479 (September), p. t50-54.
2012: "Human Evolution, Theories of: Introduction," Oxford Companion to Archaeology, 2nd edition. Neal A. Silberman (ed.), Vol. 2, p. 21-26. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
2012: Book review of "Qu'est-ce que le néolamarckisme," L. Loison, Paris: Vuibert Press, 2010, 248 pages. History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences, 34 (3): 504-506.
2012: "Human Evolution: An Agenda History, Philosophy, and Social Studies," in R.G. Delisle (ed.), Human Evolution Across Disciplines: Through the Looking Glass of History and Epistemology, special issue of History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences, Vol. 34 (1-2): 3-7.
2012: "The Disciplinary and Epistemological Structure of Paleo-anthropology: One Hundred and Fifty Years of Development," in R.G. tDelisle (ed.), Human Evolution Across Disciplines: Through the Looking Glass of History and tEpistemology, special issue of History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences, Vol. 34 (1-2): 283-329.
2012: "Welcome to the Twilight Zone: A Forgotten Early Phase of Human tEvolutionary Studies," Endeavour, 36 (2): 55-64.
2011: "L'humanité controversée de Néanderthal," [Introduction, selection, and edition of historical texts], Les Dossiers de La Recherche (Paris), No. 45 (October), pp. 64-t75. Special volume on Neanderthal man.
2011: "Précis de Les philosophies du néo-darwinisme," Philosophiques, 38(1): 263-265.
2011: "Réponses à mes critiques," Philosophiques, 38(1): 285-303.
2011: "Foreword: Celebrating Charles Darwin in Disagreement," in R.G. Delisle (ed.), Defining Darwinism: One Hundred and Fifty Years of Debate, special issue of Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, 42: 1.
2011: "What Was Really Synthesized During the Evolutionary Synthesis?: A Historiographic Proposal," in R.G. Delisle (ed.), Defining Darwinism: One Hundred and Fifty Years of Debate, special issue of Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, 42: 50-59.
2010: "Recently United Humanity," Lethbridge Herald (the Public Professor Column), Saturday, October 23, page A4.
2009: "The Uncertain Foundation of Neo-Darwinism: Metaphysical and Epistemological Pluralism in the Evolutionary Synthesis," Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, 40: 119-132.
2008: "La sélection naturelle à l'échelle cosmique," Les Dossiers de La Recherche (Paris), No. 33, pp. 64-67.
2008: "Expanding the Framework of the Holism/Reductionism Debate in Neo-Darwinism: The Case of Theodosius Dobzhansky and Bernhard Rensch," History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences, Vol. 30: 207-226.
2008: "Consensus autour de l'évolution humaine," Les Dossiers de La Recherche (Paris), No. 32 (August-October), pp. 6-9.
2006: "Un ancêtre à géométrie variable," Les Dossiers de La Recherche, No. 24 (August-October), pp. 12-17.
2006: "Un ancêtre à géométrie variable," in Neandertal, Paris: Tallandier, pp. 19-28. Originally published in Les Dossiers de La Recherche (2006) and reprinted in this volume.
2005: "Et l'homme quitta les singes," in Homo sapiens: L'odyssée de l'espèce, B. Cyrulnik (ed.), Paris: Tallandier, pp. 15-27. Originally published in La Recherche (2004) and selected for this anthology.
2004: "Et l'homme quitta les singes," La Recherche, No. 377 (July-August)), pp. 46-51.
2002: "Evolutionary Biology and Linguistics: The Nature and Implication of a Disciplinary Integration," Selection, 3: 29-44.
2001: "Adaptationism versus cladism in human evolution studies," in Studying Human Origins: Disciplinary History and Epistemology, R. Corbey and W. Roebroeks (eds.), Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, pp. 107-121.
2000: "The Biology/Culture Link in Human Evolution, 1750-1950: The Problem of Integration in Science," Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, 31: 531-556.
2000: "Construire l'arbre phylétique de l'homme: fossiles, théories et cadres interprétatifs," L'Anthropologie (Paris), 104: 489-521.
1998: "Les origines de la paléontologie humaine: essai de réinterprétation", L'Anthropologie (Paris), 102 (1): 3-19.
1998: "La généalogie de l'Homme et l'archéologie préhistorique, 1900-1950: une synthèse difficile", in La culture est-elle naturelle? Histoire, Épistémologie et Applications récentes du Concept de Culture, A. Ducros, J. Ducros et F. Joulian (eds.), Paris: Editions Errance, pp. 71-82.
1997: "Dobzhansky, Theodosius (1900-1975)", in History of Physical Anthropology: An Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, F. Spencer (ed.), New York: Garland, pp. 349-351.
1997: "Mayr, Ernst (1904-)", in History of Physical Anthropology: An Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, F. Spencer (ed.), New York: Garland, pp. 650-651.
1997: "Simpson, George Gaylord (1902-1984)", in History of Physical Anthropology: An Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, F. Spencer (ed.), New York: Garland, pp. 932-933.
1995: "Human Palaeontology and the Evolutionary Synthesis during the Decade 1950-1960", in Ape, Man, Apeman: Changing Views since 1600, R. Corbey et B. Theunissen (eds.), Leiden: Leiden University, 1995, pp. 217-228.
Research Interests
(1) Darwinism and evolutionary studies
(2) The history and philosophy of science.
(3) The history and epistemology of paleoanthropology.
(4) Human evolution