David Blitz
From Philosopedia
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David Blitz (day/month/year)
Blitz, who was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, has been a faculty member at Central Connecticut State University (CCSU) since 1989.
His areas of teaching and research are the history and philosophy of science, with special interest in theories of evolution and modern logic, as well as the work of Charles Darwin and Bertrand Russell.
His book, Emergent Evolution: Qualitative Novelty and the Levels of Reality (1992, Kluwer Academic Publishers), examines the background, origin, and debate over emergent evolution, a philosophy of evolution developed by the comparative psychologist Conwy Lloyd Morgan. Part One studies the 19th century background in the debate over the philosophical framework for evolutionary theory in the writings of Darwin, Spencer, Huxley, Wallace, and G. J. Romanes. Questions examined include the continuity of the evolutionary process, the status of qualitative as well as quantitative change, the scope of evolution, and its metaphysical implications. Part Two traces Lloyd Morgan's development of emergent evolution as a philosophy relating the various sciences, and its main thesis that qualitative novelty can occur in the course of a continuous, universal and monistic evolutionary process, proceeding from the material level to those of life and mind. The third part traces the debate over emergent evolution, and argues that, despite its temporary eclipse by reductionist and physicalist philosophies in the period from the mid-1930s to the mid-1950s, emergent evolution is an active trend of thought at the interface between philosophy and science.
Blitz currently is working on a monograph on Bertrand Russell's Philosophy of War and Peace. He also is active in CCSU's Honors Program, of which he has been Director since 1994, andhas offered a number of on-line on-line courses.
Blitz's hobbies include book collecting, watching field spaniels, and speculating about the future of Anglo-Quebecers.
External links
- Central Connecticut State University Philosophy Department
- Central Connecticut State University Honors Program
- Central Connecticut State University Peace Studies Program
