Michael Escott Ruse FRSC (1940–2024) was a British-born Canadian philosopher of science and a founder of the field of philosophy of biology. His work spanned evolutionary theory, evolutionary ethics, the creation–evolution controversy, and the relationship between science and religion.

Before coming to Florida State in 2000, Michael taught at the University of Guelph for 35 years. He received his B.A. from the University of Bristol in 1962, his M.A. from McMaster University in 1964, and his PhD from the University of Bristol in 1970. At Florida State, he founded and directed the Program in History and Philosophy of Science. He was a Fellow of both the Royal Society of Canada and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and held honorary doctorates from the University of Bergen, McMaster University, and the University of New Brunswick. In 1981, he testified as an expert witness in McLean v. Arkansas, where a federal court struck down a state law requiring “creation science” in public schools, drawing on his work on the demarcation problem: what distinguishes science from non-science.

Michael was an esteemed contributor to Closer To Truth and advisor for its Philosophy of Biology series. Read Robert Lawrence Kuhn’s tribute, “Remembering Michael Ruse.”