I am interested in the methodology and reasoning used in the biological sciences.
I am particularly interested in evolutionary theory and how evolutionary thinking is used to understand cognition, behaviour and culture.

IN PROGRESS OR UNDER REVIEW

  • Adamska, M.,Brown, R., Hua, X., Noble, D., Phillips, B., Sanders, K., & Xie, L. (under review) “Evolutionary Science for a Changing World: A whitepaper prepared for the Australian Academy of Science” Australian Academy of Science
  • Brown, R. L. & Frieman, C. (under review) "Top down or bottom up: What evolutionary thinking can, and can’t, contribute to our understanding of knowledge transmission and innovation".
  • Brown, R.L. (in prep. under contract) The Evolved Mind . Monograph under contract for series; Ruse, M. & Ramsey, G. (Eds.) Cambridge Elements in PHilosophy of Biology by Cambridge University Press.​

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PUBLICATIONS

  1. Taylor, A. H., Bastos, A. P. M. , Brown, R. L., Allen, C. (accepted, 31/6/22) "The signature-testing approach to mapping biological and artificial intelligences”. Trends in Cognitive Sciences.
  2. Brown, R.L., Pain, R. (forthcoming) "No tinkering allowed: When the end-goal requires a highly specific or risky, and complex action sequence, expect ritualistic scaffolding" Behavioral and Brain Sciences.  
  3. Brown, R. L. (in press ) "Mapping out the Landscape: A multi-dimensional approach to behavioural innovation", Philosophy of Science Pre-print
  4. Brown, R.L. (2022) "Structuralism and Selectionism: Friends or Foes?", Seminars in Cell & Developmental Biology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.semcdb.2022.02.022
  5. Moore, R., Brown, R.L. (2022) Introduction to the synthese topical collection on the cultural evolution of human social cognition.Synthese 200, 225  https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-022-03496-2
  6. Brown, R.L. (2021) Is cultural evolution always fast? Challenging the idea that cognitive gadgets would be capable of rapid and adaptive evolution. Synthese. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-021-03190-9.
  7. Brown R.L., Brusse C, Heubner B & Pain R. (2020) “Unification at the Cost of Realism and Precision” Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 43, e95.
  8. Pain, R. & Brown R.L. (2020) “Mind the gap: A more evolutionarily plausible role for technical reasoning in cumulative technological culture”, Synthese https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-020-02894-8.
  9. Brown, R.L. (2020) “Proximate-Ultimate Causation” in The Evolutionary Developmental Biology Reference Guide (Laura Nuño de la Rosa, Gerd B. Müller and Alan Love eds.). Springer. Pre-print
  10. Brown, R. L. (2020) “Why philosophers and scientists should work together” The Biologist, 67(2): 6-7.
  11. Brown, R.L. (2019) “Infer with care: A critique of the argument from animals” Mind & Language. 34(1): 21-36.
  12. Brown, R.L. (2018) “Animal Traditions: what are they and why do they matter?”, in The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Animal Minds (Kristin Andrews & Jacob Beck eds.). Routledge.
  13. Brown, R.L. (2017) “Not statistically significant, but still scientific” Animal Sentience, 16(14).
  14. Brown, R. L. (2015) “A clear-eyed defense of philosophy of biology” Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, 49: 63-65.​
  15. Brown, R. L. (2015) “Why development matters” Biology & Philosophy, 30(6): 889-899. Volume 30, Issue 6, pp 889-899.
  16. Brown, R. L. (2014) “What Evolvability Really Is.” British Journal for the Philosophy of Science. 65(3): 549-572. 
  17. Brown, R. L. (2014) “Rethinking Behavioural Evolution,” in Entangled Life: Organism and Environment in the Biological and Social Sciences, Barker, Desjardins & Pearce (eds.) Springer Netherlands, Dordrecht, pp 237-260.
  18. Brown, R. L. (2014) “Identifying Behavioral Novelty” Biological Theory. 9(2): 135-148.
  19. Brown, R. L. (2013) “Learning, Evolvability and Exploratory Behaviour: Extending the Evolutionary Reach of Learning.” Biology & Philosophy. 28(6): 933-955.
  20. McNamara, K., Brown, R. L., Elgar, M. & Jones, T. (2008) “Paternity Costs from Polyandry Compensated by Increased Fecundity in the Hide Beetle.” Behavioral Ecology, 19: 433-440.