Karen Kovaka
Biographic Data
| ID | 1004697 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Karen Kovaka |
| GIVEN NAMES | Karen |
| FAMILY NAME | Kovaka |
| SIGNATURE | KOVAKA K |
| AFFILIATIONS | Virginia Tech |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6040-3720 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 34 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 12 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2015 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
What is meta-analysis good for
There is an ongoing debate about the quality of the evidence that meta-analysis provides. But both critics and defenders of meta-analysis generally assume that the core purpose and contribution of meta-analysis is to tell us what the evidence really says about the existence and magnitude of causal relationships, to extract conclusions that agree from datasets that do not. I argue that while delivering such information about cause-and-effect relat…
A New Heuristic for Climate Adaptation
An influential heuristic for thinking about climate adaptation asserts that “natural” adaptation strategies are the best ones. This heuristic has been roundly criticized but is difficult to dislodge in the absence of an alternative. We introduce a new heuristic that assesses adaptation strategies by looking at their maturity , power , and commitment . Maturity is the extent to which we understand an adaptation strategy’s effects. Power is the siz…
Meta-Analysis and Conservation Science
Philosophical work on meta-analysis focuses on biomedical research and revolves around the question: Is meta-analytic evidence the best kind of evidence? By focusing on conservation science rather than biomedical science, I identify further questions and puzzles for meta-analysis and show their importance for the epistemology of meta-analysis
Fighting about frequency
Don’t forget forgetting: The social epistemic importance of how we forget
Climate change denial and beliefs about science
Evaluating community science
Mate Choice and Null Models
Biologists have proposed a variety of explanations for extravagant sexual displays, and controversies over explanations define the history of sexual selection research. Recently, Richard Prum has defended Darwin’s idea that the evolution of sexual displays is driven by arbitrary and nonadaptive preferences of potential mates. Prum argues that this explanation should be the null model for sexual selection research. I show that if we adopted Prum’s…
Underdetermination and Evidence in the Developmental Plasticity Debate
I identify a controversial hypothesis in evolutionary biology called the plasticity-first hypothesis. I argue that the plasticity-first hypothesis is underdetermined and that the most popular means of studying the plasticity-first hypothesis are insufficient to confirm or disconfirm it. I offer a strategy for overcoming this problem. Researchers need to develop a richer middle-range theory of plasticity-first evolution that allows them to identif…
Rational social and political polarization
Different research projects require their own individuality concepts
Biological Individuality and Scientific Practice
I consider the relationship between scientific practice and the philosophical debate surrounding biological individuality. I argue for the sensitivity account, on which biologists do not require a resolution to the individuality debate. This view puts me in disagreement with much of the literature on biological individuality, where it has become common to claim that there is a relationship of dependence between biologists’ conceptions of individu…
Rational social and political polarization
Climate change denial and beliefs about science
Fighting about frequency
Evaluating community science
Underdetermination and Evidence in the Developmental Plasticity Debate
I identify a controversial hypothesis in evolutionary biology called the plasticity-first hypothesis. I argue that the plasticity-first hypothesis is underdetermined and that the most popular means of studying the plasticity-first hypothesis are insufficient to confirm or disconfirm it. I offer a strategy for overcoming this problem. Researchers need to develop a richer middle-range theory of plasticity-first evolution that allows them to identif…
Biological Individuality and Scientific Practice
I consider the relationship between scientific practice and the philosophical debate surrounding biological individuality. I argue for the sensitivity account, on which biologists do not require a resolution to the individuality debate. This view puts me in disagreement with much of the literature on biological individuality, where it has become common to claim that there is a relationship of dependence between biologists’ conceptions of individu…
Biological Individuality and Scientific Practice
I consider the relationship between scientific practice and the philosophical debate surrounding biological individuality. I argue for the sensitivity account, on which biologists do not require a resolution to the individuality debate. This view puts me in disagreement with much of the literature on biological individuality, where it has become common to claim that there is a relationship of dependence between biologists’ conceptions of individu…
Different research projects require their own individuality concepts
Rational social and political polarization
Underdetermination and Evidence in the Developmental Plasticity Debate
I identify a controversial hypothesis in evolutionary biology called the plasticity-first hypothesis. I argue that the plasticity-first hypothesis is underdetermined and that the most popular means of studying the plasticity-first hypothesis are insufficient to confirm or disconfirm it. I offer a strategy for overcoming this problem. Researchers need to develop a richer middle-range theory of plasticity-first evolution that allows them to identif…
Mate Choice and Null Models
Biologists have proposed a variety of explanations for extravagant sexual displays, and controversies over explanations define the history of sexual selection research. Recently, Richard Prum has defended Darwin’s idea that the evolution of sexual displays is driven by arbitrary and nonadaptive preferences of potential mates. Prum argues that this explanation should be the null model for sexual selection research. I show that if we adopted Prum’s…
Fighting about frequency
Don’t forget forgetting: The social epistemic importance of how we forget
Climate change denial and beliefs about science
Evaluating community science
Meta-Analysis and Conservation Science
Philosophical work on meta-analysis focuses on biomedical research and revolves around the question: Is meta-analytic evidence the best kind of evidence? By focusing on conservation science rather than biomedical science, I identify further questions and puzzles for meta-analysis and show their importance for the epistemology of meta-analysis
A New Heuristic for Climate Adaptation
An influential heuristic for thinking about climate adaptation asserts that “natural” adaptation strategies are the best ones. This heuristic has been roundly criticized but is difficult to dislodge in the absence of an alternative. We introduce a new heuristic that assesses adaptation strategies by looking at their maturity , power , and commitment . Maturity is the extent to which we understand an adaptation strategy’s effects. Power is the siz…
What is meta-analysis good for
There is an ongoing debate about the quality of the evidence that meta-analysis provides. But both critics and defenders of meta-analysis generally assume that the core purpose and contribution of meta-analysis is to tell us what the evidence really says about the existence and magnitude of causal relationships, to extract conclusions that agree from datasets that do not. I argue that while delivering such information about cause-and-effect relat…
Epistemology (9 works) · Philosophy (8 works) · Computer Science (7 works) · Psychology (7 works) · Philosophy and History of Science (5 works) · Philosophy of science (5 works) · Sociology (5 works) · Metaphysics (4 works) · Philosophy of language (4 works) · Biology (3 works)