David Hull

David Lee Hull was an American philosopher most notable for founding the field of philosophy of biology. He proposed the species-as-individuals thesis, arguing that species are not sets or collections but spatially and temporally extended individuals, and he advanced the view of science itself as an evolutionary process in which ideas survive and spread through citation and professional advancement. He also contributed to early discussions of memetics within evolutionary culture studies, and was well known as a gay man who fought for the rights of other gay and lesbian philosophers.