Mark A Bedau
Biographic Data
| ID | 1046973 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Mark A Bedau |
| GIVEN NAMES | Mark A |
| FAMILY NAME | Bedau |
| SIGNATURE | BEDAU M A |
| AFFILIATIONS | Reed College |
| ORCID | 0009-0008-1284-8240 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 24 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 12 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1992 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Explanatory Individuals
Metaphysics traditionally presumes a fundamental distinction between kinds (properties, classes, abstract universals) and particulars (concrete individuals). Whereas kinds and classes have members, for example, individuals have parts. This paper contrasts the kind/individual distinction with a different but equally fundamental distinction between explainers and non-explainers. It is often presumed that kinds are explainers and individuals are non…
Policy‐Making and Systemic Complexity
Synthetic biology has spawned a debate about how society and the international community should go about policy‐making, especially given the potential for both transformative benefits and existential threats. One of the significant contributions of “The Ethics of Synthetic Biology: Next Steps and Prior Questions,” by Kaebnick, Gusmano, and Murray, is its exploration of the difficulties of developing policy that appropriately addresses the risks …
Testing Bottom-Up Models of Complex Citation Networks
The robust behavior of the patent citation network is a complex target of recent bottom-up models in science. This paper investigates the purpose and testing of three especially simple bottom-up models of the citation count distribution observed in the patent citation network. The complex causal webs in the models generate weakly emergent patterns of behavior, and this explains both the need for empirical observation of computer simulations of th…
A biologia de síntese e o problema da emergência da vida
Introduction to philosophical problems about life
A functional account of degrees of minimal chemical life
Philosophical and scientific perspectives on emergence
Minimal memetics and the Evolution of Patented Technology
The Intrinsic Scientific Value of Reprogramming Life
The Scientific and Philosophical Scope of Artificial Life
The new interdisciplinary science of ALife has had a connection with the arts from its inception. This paper provides an overview of ALife, reviews its key scientific challenges and discusses its philosophical implications. It ends with a few words about the implications of ALife for the arts
Artificial Life VII: Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Artificial Life
From the Publisher: The term artificial describes research into synthetic systems that possess some of the essential properties of life. This truly interdisciplinary field includes biologists, computer scientists, physicists, chemists, geneticists, and others. Artificial life may be viewed as an attempt to understand high-level behavior from low-level rules--for example, how the simple interactions between ants and their environment lead to compl…
Where's the Good in Teleology
Contemporary analyses of teleological explanation generally attempt to sanitize it, usually by trying to assimilate it to some uncontroversial descriptive form of explanation. This trend is misguided. Teleological explanations are controversial, especially when applied in biology, because value plays an essential role in them. If a reference to value is largely what makes teleological explanations problematic, then it seems only natural to try to…
Where's the Good in Teleology
Contemporary analyses of teleological explanation generally attempt to sanitize it, usually by trying to assimilate it to some uncontroversial descriptive form of explanation. This trend is misguided. Teleological explanations are controversial, especially when applied in biology, because value plays an essential role in them. If a reference to value is largely what makes teleological explanations problematic, then it seems only natural to try to…
A functional account of degrees of minimal chemical life
Testing Bottom-Up Models of Complex Citation Networks
The robust behavior of the patent citation network is a complex target of recent bottom-up models in science. This paper investigates the purpose and testing of three especially simple bottom-up models of the citation count distribution observed in the patent citation network. The complex causal webs in the models generate weakly emergent patterns of behavior, and this explains both the need for empirical observation of computer simulations of th…
The Scientific and Philosophical Scope of Artificial Life
The new interdisciplinary science of ALife has had a connection with the arts from its inception. This paper provides an overview of ALife, reviews its key scientific challenges and discusses its philosophical implications. It ends with a few words about the implications of ALife for the arts
Where's the Good in Teleology
Contemporary analyses of teleological explanation generally attempt to sanitize it, usually by trying to assimilate it to some uncontroversial descriptive form of explanation. This trend is misguided. Teleological explanations are controversial, especially when applied in biology, because value plays an essential role in them. If a reference to value is largely what makes teleological explanations problematic, then it seems only natural to try to…
Artificial Life VII: Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Artificial Life
From the Publisher: The term artificial describes research into synthetic systems that possess some of the essential properties of life. This truly interdisciplinary field includes biologists, computer scientists, physicists, chemists, geneticists, and others. Artificial life may be viewed as an attempt to understand high-level behavior from low-level rules--for example, how the simple interactions between ants and their environment lead to compl…
The Scientific and Philosophical Scope of Artificial Life
The new interdisciplinary science of ALife has had a connection with the arts from its inception. This paper provides an overview of ALife, reviews its key scientific challenges and discusses its philosophical implications. It ends with a few words about the implications of ALife for the arts
The Intrinsic Scientific Value of Reprogramming Life
Introduction to philosophical problems about life
A functional account of degrees of minimal chemical life
Philosophical and scientific perspectives on emergence
Minimal memetics and the Evolution of Patented Technology
A biologia de síntese e o problema da emergência da vida
Policy‐Making and Systemic Complexity
Synthetic biology has spawned a debate about how society and the international community should go about policy‐making, especially given the potential for both transformative benefits and existential threats. One of the significant contributions of “The Ethics of Synthetic Biology: Next Steps and Prior Questions,” by Kaebnick, Gusmano, and Murray, is its exploration of the difficulties of developing policy that appropriately addresses the risks …
Testing Bottom-Up Models of Complex Citation Networks
The robust behavior of the patent citation network is a complex target of recent bottom-up models in science. This paper investigates the purpose and testing of three especially simple bottom-up models of the citation count distribution observed in the patent citation network. The complex causal webs in the models generate weakly emergent patterns of behavior, and this explains both the need for empirical observation of computer simulations of th…
Explanatory Individuals
Metaphysics traditionally presumes a fundamental distinction between kinds (properties, classes, abstract universals) and particulars (concrete individuals). Whereas kinds and classes have members, for example, individuals have parts. This paper contrasts the kind/individual distinction with a different but equally fundamental distinction between explainers and non-explainers. It is often presumed that kinds are explainers and individuals are non…
Philosophy (7 works) · Epistemology (6 works) · Computer Science (5 works) · Artificial Intelligence (4 works) · Metaphysics (4 works) · Philosophy and History of Science (4 works) · Space Science and Extraterrestrial Life (4 works) · Artificial Intelligence (3 works) · Artificial life (3 works) · Philosophy of language (3 works)