Matt Haber

Matt Haber

@profmatthaber.bsky.social

Philosopher of Biology @ University of Utah https://sites.google.com/view/matt-haber

758 followers206 following45 posts

Matt Haber
@profmatthaber.bsky.social

This is super cool.

Jeff Groh@jeffgroh.bsky.social

Avocados come in 2 varieties - A-types start each day female and switch to male midday. B-types do the reverse. In work just published from the last chapter of my PhD, we show this system evolved 40+million yrs ago and is regulated by alleles of 1 transcription factor www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

pnas.orgBalanced polymorphism in a floral transcription factor underlies the ancient rhythm of daily sex alternation in avocado | PNASIn avocado and certain wild relatives in Lauraceae, a highly synchronized daily rhythm of floral sex timing promotes cross-pollination between two ...
Matt Haber
@profmatthaber.bsky.social

Excited to share that "Common Ancestry, Contemporary Phylogenetics, and Process Ontology" is posted at Systematic Biology. @maureenmkearney.bsky.social and I argue that GCD Griffiths' process view of systematics provides a powerful foundation for contemporary systematics. doi.org/10.1093/sysb....

academic.oup.comCommon Ancestry, Contemporary Phylogenetics, and Process OntologyAbstract. Recent advances in systematics and evolutionary biology have revealed extraordinary complexity in phylogenetic diversification, challenged our tr

Matt Haber reposted

Alisa Bokulich
@alisabokulich.bsky.social

⏰ Encourage eligible UPSS mentees to submit their PSA abstract by August 1st! Great opportunity to get on PSA'26 program & get feedback on their project #philsci

PSA UPSS Initiative@psa-upss.bsky.social

UPSS mentees participating in PSA UPSS Mentoring Program who are current grad students or w/in 3 years of PhD are eligible to submit a paper to be considered for presentation in UPSS Session at the PSA Biennial mtg in San Diego Nov 19-22. Deadline August 1st, 2026 #HPS philsci.org/upss_biennia...

Matt Haber
@profmatthaber.bsky.social

"A Conventional View" is now online at B&P. We describe how pragmatic conventions help retain the utility of scientific tools when they outrun their theoretical and conceptual justifications, by unpacking what it means to treat higher taxonomic ranks as 'mere conventions'. doi.org/10.1007/s105...

doi.orgA conventional view - Biology & PhilosophyA widely held view in biology is that higher Linnaean categories or ranks (genera, families, etc.) ought to be regarded as ‘mere conventions’. That is typically understood to mean that their utility and application stem from (relatively) recent conventions that have been adopted for their usage in biological classification. There are no underlying theories or robust ontological concepts of these higher ranks, in contrast to taxonomic groupings like species or populations (disputed as those underlying concepts or theories may be). Absent these conventions, the application of higher ranks are in important ways arbitrary, reflecting their lack of theoretical and conceptual grounding. Indeed, some taxonomists have argued that this lack of grounding justifies adopting rank-free taxonomies. Michael Devitt (2023a) challenges this entrenched view, calling it an exaggerated skepticism. Instead, he takes the continued use of higher Linnaean ranks as evidence that they reflect “minimal category concepts,” which do genuine theoretical and explanatory work by marking out a relative level of taxonomic hierarchy. We disagree. Here, we unpack what it means to treat Linnaean categories as mere conventions, arguing they are better understood as informational proxies for phylogenetic hierarchies. Yet, Devitt is right to focus on this case, as it provides an exemplar of how scientists retain the utility of scientific practices that outlive their underlying initial theoretical and conceptual justification. We conclude by offering an alternative explanation for this in the context of a pragmatic account of science that treats Linnaean classification as a biological formalization.
Matt Haber
@profmatthaber.bsky.social

Really excited to see this in print. It's a great article by @teejperk.bsky.social that nicely balances history and philosophy of science.

TJ Perkins@teejperk.bsky.social

Was the overturning of the Mound Builders mythology in the late 19th century a "triumph for science?" I argue, no, it wasn't, and that this narrative framing should be abandoned in my latest in the History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

link.springer.comMound builders, mound blunders: mythmaking in nineteenth century American archaeology - History and Philosophy of the Life SciencesIn this paper, I critically examine and overturn a narrative from the history of American archaeology wherein historians have classified the overthrowing of the Mound Builders mythology in the late 19...
Matt Haber
@profmatthaber.bsky.social

SPUR RAs will work collaboratively in the lab on our Entangled Linages, Classification, and Individuality project. This examines how the breadth and depth of lineage entanglement impacts concepts of biological individuality, our biological theories, our methodological tools, and biological practice.

Matt Haber
@profmatthaber.bsky.social

More broadly, the lab explores the implications of challenging categorical thinking in biology, esp. for biological systematics, classification and nomenclature, but lab members are also studying this in the context of tech- and bioethics. It’s a great group and we’re excited to welcome summer RAs!

Matt Haber
@profmatthaber.bsky.social

Last but not least, my "Biology's Einstein Moment: Specifying Lineal Frames of Reference and Rejecting Absolute Biological History." Name kind of says it all. TL;DR (but read it): specifying frames in reference in biology is super useful and informative: doi.org/10.1007/s137...

doi.orgBiology’s Einstein Moment: Specifying Lineal Frames of Reference and Rejecting Absolute Biological History - Biological TheoryWe are currently in the midst of what I call biology’s Einstein moment. This is the rejection of absolute biological history, the idea that there is an invariant, privileged biological history against...
Matt Haber
@profmatthaber.bsky.social

François Papale's, "The Unit of Selection and the Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection Without Lineage Formation." Unit of selection without reproduction. (Reminiscent of @fbouchard.bsky.social) doi.org/10.1007/s137...

doi.orgThe Unit of Selection and the Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection Without Lineage Formation - Biological TheoryThe aim of this article is to develop an approach to the unit of selection concept that fits the theory of evolution by natural selection without reproduction. I review the history of the concept to s...
Matt Haber
@profmatthaber.bsky.social

Javier Suárez and Sophie Veigl's, "Vindicating Lineage Eliminativism." Super interesting paper that stakes out a position that challenges a lot of the ways I think about lineages: doi.org/10.1007/s137...

doi.orgVindicating Lineage Eliminativism - Biological TheoryThis article defends a selective eliminativist position with respect to the concept of “biological lineage” as used in certain areas of contemporary evolutionary biology. We argue that its primary epi...
Matt Haber
@profmatthaber.bsky.social

Looking forward to reading this. My undergrads brought up this topic in my lab this morning and I'm confident they'll be eager to read this as well.

Kalyani Twyman@kztwyman.bsky.social

Really happy to share this article I'm grateful to have been a part of: 'Impediments to countering racist pseudoscience' coauthored with @kevinlala.bsky.social, @gillianrbrown1.bsky.social and Marcus Feldman. Check out a preprint here: www.cambridge.org/core/journal... #ScientificRacism #Antiracism

Matt Haber
@profmatthaber.bsky.social

Loving Porto #ISHPSSB2025. Looking forward to catching up with folks. If anyone wants to catch my talk it’s on Friday afternoon, in a session with (the always great) Joeri Witteveen. My talk is on rogue taxonomy, taxonomic vandalism and a surprising analog version of bad AI science. Should be fun!

Matt Haber
@profmatthaber.bsky.social

Excited to share that "Scaffolding: Selected Contributions of James R. Griesemer to History, Philosophy, and Biology" is out. I introduce Jim's chapter on formalization. (My original title, "Undermining Dichotomies and the Friends You Make Along the Way." doi.org/10.1007/978-...

doi.orgIntroduction to “Formalization and the Meaning of ‘Theory’ in the Inexact Biological Sciences”Jim Griesemer papers are typically rich, creative, and challenging. One of my favorite things about a Griesemer paper is that some of the best bits are doing double duty as framing. That is well on di...
Matt Haber
@profmatthaber.bsky.social

Jim's "Reflection on Taking a Class with Feyerabend" is a wonderful read. Captures his personality and approach as a philosopher. I remember Jim sharing these stories when I was a grad student, and was just passing them along to students in my lab the other day. link.springer.com/chapter/10.1...

link.springer.comReflection on Taking a Class with FeyerabendThis short reminiscence was written by James Griesemer and e-published for the Paul K. Feyerabend Centennial 1924–2024 (the 100th anniversary of his birth) in a grouping of personal me...
Matt Haber
@profmatthaber.bsky.social

Excited to share that "Scaffolding: Selected Contributions of James R. Griesemer to History, Philosophy, and Biology" is out. I introduce Jim's chapter on formalization. (My original title, "Undermining Dichotomies and the Friends You Make Along the Way." doi.org/10.1007/978-...

doi.orgIntroduction to “Formalization and the Meaning of ‘Theory’ in the Inexact Biological Sciences”Jim Griesemer papers are typically rich, creative, and challenging. One of my favorite things about a Griesemer paper is that some of the best bits are doing double duty as framing. That is well on di...
Matt Haber
@profmatthaber.bsky.social

The complete book may be found at this link: link.springer.com/book/9783031... Thanks to @rachelankeny.bsky.social @mikedietrich.bsky.social @sabinaleonelli.bsky.social for putting together this wonderful volume. It's a great set up, each of Jim's papers are introduced by a different friend.

link.springer.comScaffolding: Selected Contributions of James R. Griesemer to History, Philosophy, and BiologyThis book brings together some of Griesemer's most significant contributions for the first time, making it widely accessible in a single collection.

Matt Haber reposted

AAHPSSS
@aahpsss.bsky.social

Call for Papers - AAHPSSS Conference 2025 Submissions are now open! The 2025 AAHPSSS conference will be held in a hybrid format at the University of Queensland from Wednesday 3rd December to Friday 5th December. Further details can be found on our website: aahpsss.net.au/conference/2...

aahpsss.net.au2025 ConferenceSubmissions are now open and will be due by mid-July. Abstracts can be submitted here. We are pleased to announce that the 2025 conference of the Australasian Association for the History, Ph…
Matt Haber
@profmatthaber.bsky.social

Very happy to see my "Positively Misleading Errors" finally published (it's been a long road). It generalizes an error of statistical reasoning discovered by Joe Felsenstein in 1978. Really happy with how it turned out. Currently free to access and download, so go for it! doi.org/10.1007/s112...

doi.orgPositively misleading errors - SynthesePositively misleading errors are errors of statistical reasoning in which adding data to an analysis will systematically and reliably strengthen support for an erroneous hypothesis over a correct one....
Matt Haber
@profmatthaber.bsky.social

Excited to share the publication of my paper, "Biology's Einstein Moment" in Biological Theory. TL;DR: biology is complex and entangled and there's lot of very cool recent upshots of this. (Shout out to @javiersuarez.bsky.social). PS open access, so it's free to download. doi.org/10.1007/s137...

doi.orgBiology’s Einstein Moment: Specifying Lineal Frames of Reference and Rejecting Absolute Biological History - Biological TheoryWe are currently in the midst of what I call biology’s Einstein moment. This is the rejection of absolute biological history, the idea that there is an invariant, privileged biological history against...

Matt Haber reposted

Lucie Laplane
@lucielaplane.bsky.social

Interested in lineages? Read this paper by Kate MacCord on the germline. link.springer.com/article/10.1... Fun and provocative. A great combination of history and philosophy of biology. Part of a spetial issue on Lineage in Biological Theory. @javiersuarez.bsky.social @profmatthaber.bsky.social

link.springer.comLet’s Talk About Sex…Cell Lineages - Biological TheorySex is fundamental to many organisms. It is through sexual reproduction that humans, and many metazoans (multicellular eukaryotes in the animal kingdom), propagate our species. For more than 150 years...

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