History and Philosophy of Biology

Currently I am investigating Aristotle’s role in the creation of biology as a formal science. There is considerable controversy among commentators on Aristotle’s works regarding the extent to which Aristotle applies the concept of “teleology,” which refers to the relationship between a process and the purported goal of that process. For example, Aristotle shows that many of the characteristics of an organism serve to insure its survival and reproduction, and he claims this is the reason organisms have their specific traits. Does Aristotle apply this concept only to individual species of organisms, or does he also include species interactions and abiotic processes of our sublunary world, or even the actions of the whole universe? Close reading of Aristotle’s known works (more than 2,000 pages covering diverse topics of physics, biology, logic, metaphysics, ethics, politics, and more) may uncover Aristotle’s fundamental philosophy.

Bioarcheology and Forensic Anthropology

Several years ago I was co-director of a forensic anthropology team. Part of the work our team performed involved the exhumations of human skeletons from historically relevant local spaces. I am still in the process of analyzing some of these remains with the goal of making positive identifications.

Selected Publications

• 2000: Unusual Infant Death: Dog Attack or Postmortem Mutilation Following Child Abuse? The American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology 21(4): 389-394 (with L. Buscoli; M. Taff; J. Peterson; J. Taylor)
• 1995: Estimation of Time Elapsed Since Death Through the Use of the Bryophyte Reproductive Cycle. In B. Jacob and W. Bonte, eds., Advances in Forensic Sciences, Proceedings, International Association of Forensic Sciences, Dusseldorf, Germany. IV: 144-146 (with W.R. Buck and J.V. Taylor).
• 1997: The Discovery, Exhumation and Identification of the Remains of Pierre Toussaint (1766-1853). Proceedings of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (with J.V. Taylor, R. DiBennardo, B.E. Byland, A.D. Goldman)
• 1997: The New York City Doctors’ Mob of 1788. Proceedings of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (with J.V. Taylor, A. Agelarakis, P.S. Bridges, R. DiBennardo, B.E. Byland, L.E. Eisenberg)
• 1989: Congenital Abnormalities in Skeletal Populations, in Mehmet Yasar Iscan and Kenneth A.R. Kennedy, eds.; Reconstruction of Life From the Skeleton. NYC: Alan R. Liss, Inc. pp. 109‑127.
• 1979: Aristotelean, Lamarckian, and Darwinian Biologies. Long Island Philosophical Society.