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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS At age thirty-eight I returned to graduate school as what was euphemistically referred to as a “nontraditional” student. A previous Ph.D. (in philosophy) had gotten me a succession of part-time and temporary positions . . . and no hopes of tenure-track employment. In the fall of 1990 I entered the University of Pittsburgh’s formidable program in the History and Philosophy of Science. In my ¤rst term I encountered James G. Lennox in the introductory seminar in the history of science. He gave me a B+, which was quite a shock after¤nishing with 4.00 averages in my previous two graduate philosophy programs. Naturally, this earned my respect and motivated me to a higher level of performance.When I made an A in Jim’s class on Aristotle ’s biology, this was a proud achievement. I asked Jim to supervise my dissertation and was grati¤ed when he accepted the role.He was an excellent supervisor,unyielding when he perceived carelessness but quick to encourage a job well done.Since this book grew out of the dissertation, Jim is the main person to be thanked.The other members of the dissertation committee,Professors Ted McGuire, Robert Olby, and Harold Rollins, also earned my sincere appreciation. Finally, Hugh Torrens read the doctoral dissertation which served as the basis for this work and made many valuable recommendations . Part of this book is based on work done as a research associate at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh. Paleontologists Chris Beard and Mary Dawson of the Department of Vertebrate Paleontology were great help and wonderful companions while I did my research at the Carnegie. Chris took me to dig fossils with him in Wyoming—literally “hands-on”experience.Elizabeth Hill,collection manager for the DVP , was most helpful in guiding me through the archives. Thanks also to Lance Lugar, paleontologist and head of the Physics Library at Pitt, for his bibliographical help and our enlightening informal conversations. I would like to thank my friends and colleagues at the University of Houston, Clear Lake, for their interest and support. Without the security and stability of a “real” job with good friends and congenial ix colleagues, this project would have been impossible. Thanks also to two persons whom I shall not name, one a philosopher and the other in cultural studies, who read portions of the manuscript and found them highly antithetical. I am sorry to have caused them pain, and though I have tried to justify or qualify some of the things they found in®ammatory, I am sure the ¤nal product will still not please them. Their responses showed me just how polarizing the science wars have been and inspired me,in the ¤nal chapter,to offer an irenic suggestion. I would like to thank Bob Sloan and the staff of the Indiana University Press for their encouragement and hard work on this project. A few years ago someone asked me to recommend a top dinosaur paleontologist.Without hesitation I replied that in my opinion JamesO. Farlow was among the best. It came as a most pleasant surprise to discover that Jim Farlow would be one of the readers of my manuscript .I would like to thank him for his support of my initial proposal and his subsequent work on my behalf. I would also like to thank M. K. Brett-Surman for reading my manuscript and for many helpful comments and suggestions. Some of those involved in research on the issues discussed in this book may be chagrined to ¤nd that their work is barely mentioned, if at all. This book has a multidisciplinary topic, crossing the ¤elds of philosophy, history of science, sociology of science, and paleontology. So wide-ranging a discussion cannot pretend to completeness. Also, this work is not intended as a survey of all the relevant research or opinion nor is it meant to bring the reader up to date on all the latest¤ndings or discussions. Scienti¤c views are mentioned, not so much for their own sake, but as illustrations of the processes of science. Whether these views are the latest word, or have since been quali¤ed by their authors, is not my main concern. Finally,thanks always go to Carol,for her understanding and support , to my mother, Charlotte Parsons, my sister, Kay Beavers, my brother-in-law, Danny, my niece, Erin, and my good friend, Becky. My father always encouraged my interests, from my boyhood fascination with dinosaurs...

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