Peter Godfrey-Smith

{{Short description|Australian philosopher and writer (born 1965)}}

{{Infobox philosopher

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| name = Peter Godfrey-Smith

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| image = P1160335 peter godfrey-smith reading.jpg

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| alt = Peter Godfrey-Smith reads from Other Minds at Adelaide Writers Week 2018

| caption = Peter Godfrey-Smith reads from Other Minds at Adelaide Writers Week 2018

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| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1965}}

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| nationality = Australian

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| education = {{ublist|University of Sydney|UC San Diego}}

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| notable_works =

| awards = Lakatos Award

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| institutions = {{ublist|University of Sydney|CUNY Graduate Center|Harvard University|Australian National University|Stanford University}}

| thesis_title = Teleonomy and the Philosophy of Mind

| thesis_url = https://roger.ucsd.edu:443/record=b2869450~S9

| thesis_year = 1991

| doctoral_advisor = Philip Kitcher

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| language = English

| main_interests = {{ublist|Philosophy of biology|Philosophy of mind}}

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| website = {{URL|https://petergodfreysmith.com/}}

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Peter Godfrey-Smith (born 1965) is an Australian philosopher of science and writer, who is currently Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Sydney.{{cite web | url = https://sydney.edu.au/science/people/peter.godfrey-smith.php | title = University of Sydney – Academic Staff | access-date = 6 December 2018 | publisher = The University of Sydney }} He works primarily in philosophy of biology and philosophy of mind, and also has interests in general philosophy of science, pragmatism (especially the work of John Dewey), and some parts of metaphysics and epistemology. Godfrey-Smith was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2022.{{cite web | url=https://www.amphilsoc.org/blog/american-philosophical-society-welcomes-new-members-2022 | title=The American Philosophical Society Welcomes New Members for 2022 }}

Education and career

Born in Australia in 1965, Godfrey-Smith received a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of California, San Diego in 1991 under the supervision of Philip Kitcher. He previously taught at Harvard University,{{cite web | url = https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2006/02/godfrey-smith-joins-fas-as-professor-of-philosophy/ | title = Godfrey-Smith joins FAS as professor of philosophy | date= 16 February 2006 | access-date = 6 December 2018 | publisher = The Harvard Gazette }} Stanford University, Australian National University, and the CUNY Graduate Center.{{cite web | url = https://philosophy.commons.gc.cuny.edu/final-talk-party-peter-godfrey-smith/ | title = A final talk by (and party for) Peter Godfrey-Smith | date= 2 December 2017 | access-date = 6 December 2018 | publisher = CUNY Philosophy Academic Commons }} Godfrey-Smith was the recipient of the Lakatos Award{{Cite web | url=http://www2.lse.ac.uk/philosophy/LakatosAward/lakatosawardarchive/lakatosaward2010announcement.aspx | title=Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method}} for his 2009 book, Darwinian Populations and Natural Selection which discusses the philosophical foundations of the theory of evolution.{{Cite journal|title=The philosophy of evolution: Godfrey-Smith takes an evolutionary approach to how the mind works|journal=Harvard University Gazette|url=http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2007/02.08/03-godfreysmith.html|date=8 February 2007|first=Ken|last=Gewertz|access-date=26 October 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081011132246/http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2007/02.08/03-godfreysmith.html|archive-date=11 October 2008|url-status=dead}}.Darwinian Populations and Natural Selection. Oxford University Press. 2010.

He has criticized the arguments of intelligent design proponents.Godfrey-Smith, Peter. (2001). [http://petergodfreysmith.com/PGSonDembskiWeb.pdf Information and the Argument from Design]. In Robert T. Pennock. Intelligent Design Creationism and its Critics: Philosophical, Theological and Scientific Perspectives. MIT Press. pp. 575–596. He was an early critic of Covid-19 lockdown measures, beginning with a series of Twitter posts in January 2021.{{Cite journal|last=Godfrey-Smith|first=Peter|date=2022|title=Covid Heterodoxy in Three Layers|journal=Monash Bioethics Review|language=en|volume=40|issue=1|pages=17–39|doi=10.1007/s40592-021-00140-6|pmid=34839458 |pmc=8627291}}{{Cite web|last=Akcay|first=Erol|date=2021|title=Against "Covid Heterodoxy": Open Review of Godfrey-Smith, 2021|url=https://erolakcay.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/godfreysmithreview-1.pdf}}{{Cite web|last=Godfrey-Smith|first=Peter|date=2021|title=Reply to Ackay|url=https://petergodfreysmith.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Reply-to-Akcay-PGS-2021.pdf}}

''Other Minds''

{{Main|Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness}}

In 2016, Godfrey-Smith published the book Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness.{{cite magazine | url = http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2017/03/whats-it-like-to-be-an-octopus.html | title = What's It Like to Be an Octopus? | date= 9 March 2017 | access-date = 9 July 2017 | magazine = New York Magazine | author = Drake Baer }} It explores the origin of sentience, consciousness and intelligence in the animal kingdom, specifically how it evolved in cephalopods compared to mammals and birds.{{cite news | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/27/books/review/other-minds-peter-godfrey-smith.html | title = Thinking in the Deep: Inside the Mind of an Octopus | date= 27 December 2016 | access-date = 9 July 2017 | newspaper = New York Times | author = Carl Safina }}{{cite news | url = https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/mar/15/other-minds-peter-godfrey-smith-review-octopus-philip-hoare | title = Other Minds by Peter Godfrey-Smith review – the octopus as intelligent alien | date= 15 March 2017 | access-date = 9 July 2017 | newspaper = Guardian | author = Philip Hoare }}{{cite magazine | url = https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/01/what-the-octopus-knows/508745/ | title = What the Octopus Knows | access-date = 9 July 2017 | magazine = The Atlantic | author = Olivia Judson }}

Books

{{cite book | title=Complexity and the Function of Mind in Nature | publisher=Cambridge University Press | publication-place=Cambridge | date=1996 | isbn=0-521-45166-3 | oclc=32468942}}
{{cite book |title=Theory and Reality: an Introduction to the Philosophy of Science |publisher=University of Chicago Press |publication-place=Chicago |edition=1st |date=2003 |isbn=0-226-30062-5 |oclc=51223665}}
{{cite book | title=Darwinian populations and natural selection | publisher=Oxford University Press | publication-place=Oxford | date=2009 | isbn=978-0-19-156778-0 | oclc=373185464}}
{{Cite book |title=Philosophy of Biology |date=2014 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=9780691140018 |oclc=881399003}}
{{cite book | title=Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness | publisher=William Collins | publication-place=New York | date=2016 | isbn=978-0-374-22776-0 | oclc=957696590}}
{{cite book |title=Metazoa: Animal Life and the Birth of the Mind |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |publication-place=New York |date=2020 |isbn=978-0-374-20794-6 |oclc=1158510266}}
{{cite book |title=Living on Earth: Forests, Corals, Consciousness, and the Making of the World |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |publication-place=New York |date=2024|isbn=978-0-37418-993-8 |oclc=1435751478}}