🎯 Where Should I Start?
ⓘ About Peter Godfrey-Smith
He was born in Australia in 1965 and grew up in Sydney, Australia. His undergrad degree is from the University of Sydney, and has a PhD in Philosophy from UC San Diego. From 1991 until 2003, he taught at Stanford University, and then combined a half-time post at the Australian National University and a visiting position for a few years. Peter then took up a full time position at Harvard and was Professor of Philosophy from 2006 until 2011, before he moved to CUNY Graduate Center where he was from 2011 until 2017. After that he started a half time position in the HPS program at the University of Sydney in 2015, which became a full time post in 2017. Then in 2022, he was elected to the American Philosophical Society.
All Book Series by Peter Godfrey-Smith
Complexity and the Function of Mind in Nature
Series opener · book 1 of 6 · published 1998
Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness
Book 4 of 6 · published 2016
The Great Devonian Controversy
Series opener · book 1 of 34 · published 1985 Anthology · Martin J.S. Rudwick
Darwin and the Emergence of Evolutionary Theories of Mind and Behavior
Book 4 of 34 · published 1987 Anthology · Robert J. Richards
From Mineralogy to Geology
Book 5 of 34 · published 1987 Anthology · Rachel Laudan
The Highlands Controversy
Book 8 of 34 · published 1990 Anthology · David Oldroyd
Reading the Shape of Nature
Book 10 of 34 · published 1991 Anthology · Mary P. Winsor
Descartes' Metaphysical Physics
Book 12 of 34 · published 1992 Anthology · Daniel Garber
The Meaning of Evolution
Book 13 of 34 · published 1992 Anthology · Robert J. Richards
The Politics of Evolution, Morphology, Medicine, and Reform in Radical London
Book 14 of 34 · published 1992 Anthology · Adrian J. Desmond
Economics--Mathematical Politics or Science of Diminishing Returns?
Book 15 of 34 · published 1992 Anthology · Alex Rosenberg
Styles of Scientific Thought
Book 17 of 34 · published 1993 Anthology · Jonathan Harwood
In the Wake of Chaos
Book 18 of 34 · published 1993 Anthology · Stephen H. Kellert
Berkeley's Philosophy of Mathematics
Book 19 of 34 · published 1993 Anthology · Douglas M. Jesseph
A Social History of Truth
Book 20 of 34 · published 1994 Anthology · Steven Shapin
Discovery and Explanation in Biology and Medicine
Book 21 of 34 · published 1994 Anthology · Kenneth F. Schaffner
Durkheim's Philosophy of Science and the Sociology of Knowledge: Creating an Intellectual Niche
Book 22 of 34 · published 1994 Anthology · Warren Schmaus
Instrumental Biology, or The Disunity of Science
Book 23 of 34 · published 1994 Anthology · Alex Rosenberg
The Diffident Naturalist
Book 25 of 34 · published 1995 Anthology · Rose-Mary Sargent
What Emotions Really Are
Book 28 of 34 · published 1997 Anthology · Paul E. Griffiths
Sex and Death
Book 29 of 34 · published 1999 Anthology · Kim Sterelny,Paul E. Griffiths
Squaring the Circle
Book 30 of 34 · published 2000 Anthology · Douglas M. Jesseph
Reconciling Science and Religion
Book 32 of 34 · published 2001 Anthology · Peter J. Bowler
The Romantic Conception of Life
Book 33 of 34 · published 2002 Anthology · Robert J. Richards
The Major Transitions in Evolution Revisited
Single-title series · published 2011
? Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Peter Godfrey-Smith?
He was born in Australia in 1965 and grew up in Sydney, Australia. His undergrad degree is from the University of Sydney, and has a PhD in Philosophy from UC San Diego. From 1991 until 2003, he taught at Stanford University, and then combined a half-time post at the Australian National University and a visiting position for a few years.
Which Peter Godfrey-Smith series should I start with?
The best place to start is the Science and Its Conceptual Foundations series, the earliest of Peter Godfrey-Smith's multi-book series: it opens with The Great Devonian Controversy (1985) and runs to 34 books across 1985–2003, ending with Theory and Reality (2003).
How many books has Peter Godfrey-Smith written?
Peter Godfrey-Smith has 41 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1985 and 2024. 34 of them belong to 1 named series — the largest being the Science and Its Conceptual Foundations series with 34 books — and 7 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.
In what order should Peter Godfrey-Smith's series be read?
Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. Peter Godfrey-Smith's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are Science and Its Conceptual Foundations (1985–2003, 34 books).
How are Peter Godfrey-Smith's books organised into series?
This guide splits Peter Godfrey-Smith's 41 books into 1 named series and 7 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: Science and Its Conceptual Foundations (34 books, 1985–2003).