Philosophy of Biology (eBook)

Front Cover 1
Philosophy of Biology 4
Copyright Page 5
Table of Contents 8
General Preface 6
Preface 12
List of Contributors 16
Part I Biography 20
Charles Darwin 22
Darwin the Geologist 23
Darwin Becomes an Evolutionist 26
Natural Selection 29
The “Origin of Species” 32
The Consilience 37
After the “Origin” 40
Philosophical Issues 43
The Darwinian Revolution 49
Bibliography 54
Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher 58
1 Early Life and Education 58
2 At Rothamsted: A Period of Intense Activity 59
3 At University College, London 67
4 At Life’s Close 68
Bibliography 68
Haldane and the Emergence of Modern Evolutionary Theory 70
1 Introduction 70
2 Historical Background 71
3 Haldane’s “Mathematical Theory” 76
4 The Causes of Evolution 85
5 The Aftermath 90
6 Historical Reconstructions 92
Acknowledgments 103
Bibliography 103
Sewall Wright 108
1 A Biography in Brief 108
2 Inbreeding 109
3 Statistics and Path Analysis 111
4 Physiological Genetics 112
5 Population Genetics 113
6 The Shifting Balance Theory 115
7 Philosophy 117
8 Wright, The Man 118
Bibliography 119
Motoo Kimura 122
1 A Brief Biography 122
2 Population Genetics Theory 125
3 The Neutral Theory 126
4 Kimura The Man 127
Bibliography 128
Part II Evolution 130
Natural Selection 132
Fitness 133
What Does Natural Selection Explain? 135
Adaptationism 137
Forces and Causes 144
Bibliography 146
Neutralism 150
1 The Neutral Theory: Some Historical Background 150
2 Reception of the Theory 153
3 Kimura’s Arguments for Neutral Evolution 154
4 Tests of the Neutral Theory 155
5 Neutralism & Adaptive Evolution: The Molecular and the Phenotypic Level
6 What is Drift in the Context of the Neutral Theory? 159
Bibliography 160
Levels of Selection 162
1 Introduction 162
2 From Organisms to Genes and Groups 162
3 Genes and Organisms: Replicators, Interactors, and Other “Units” 164
4 Group Selection and Individual Selection 166
5 The Problem of Altruism and the Levels of Selection 168
6 Pluralism and Realism 171
7 Groups as Contexts, Groups as Superorganisms 174
8 Transitions in Evolutionary History 176
Bibliography 178
What is Evolvability? 184
1 The Metazoa and the Volvocaceans: Two Contrasting Fates 184
2 Limits on Volvocacean Disparity 185
3 Fitness: A Model for Evolvability? 187
4 Evolvability, Individuals and Environments 190
Bibliography 198
Development: Three Grades of Ontogenetic Involvement 200
1 Introduction 200
2 The Fragmentation of Evolution 201
3 Sub-Organismal Biology 204
4 Three Grades of Ontogenetic Involvement 206
5 Conclusion: Going Through the Grades 217
Bibliography 218
Evolution and Normativity 222
1 General Introduction 222
2 The Shadow of Darwin 224
3 Final Thoughts 235
Bibliography 236
Evolutionary Ethics 240
1 Introduction 240
2 Background Assumptions 244
3 The Evolution of Altruism 246
4 Reproductive Strategies and the Two Norms Theory 248
5 Reproductive Strategies and Sex Roles 251
6 Morality and the Marital Compromise 254
7 Enhancement Norms and Control Norms 256
8 The Open Question Argument 258
Bibliography 265
Part III Genetics 268
Genetic Analysis 270
1 Introduction 270
2 From Factors to Genes: Mendel to Johannsen 272
3 The Chromosomal Theory of Heredity 279
4 Genetic Linkage as an Analytic Strategy 285
5 Genes — The Atoms of Heredity: From Muller to Watson and Crick 291
6 From Genotypes to Phenotypes to Stereotypes 302
7 Population Genetics Upholds Darwinism 309
8 Opening Pandora’s Box: Cracks in the Dogma 311
9 Conclusion 316
Bibliography 318
The Development of Population Genetics 330
1 Early Days: The Law of Ancestral Heredity 332
2 Statistical Darwinism Vs. Mendelian Factors 336
3 From Statistical Biology to Mathematical Populations 340
4 Genes and Selection: The Synthesis Established 346
5 Debating the Details 350
Bibliography 353
Maximisation Principles in Evolutionary Biology 356
1 Introduction 356
2 Extremum Principles in Physics 356
3 Evolution as Fitness-Maximisation. (1) Fisher’s ‘Fundamental Theorem’ 357
4 Evolution as Fitness-Maximisation. (2) Misinterpreting the Fundamental Theorem 360
5 Evolution as Fitness-Maximisation. (3) What Remains To Be Said 362
6 Evolution as Entropy Maximisation 363
7 Reconstructing Evolution: The Principle of Parsimony and Ockham’s Razor 364
8 Reconstructing Evolution: The Method of Minimum Evolution 366
Bibliography 367
Reductionism in Biology 370
1 Post-Positivist Intertheoretical Reduction 370
2 Intertheoretical Antireductionism 374
3 Historical Reductionism 379
4 Completing Why-Necessary Explanations in Evolutionary Biology 384
Bibliography 389
Traits, Genes, and Coding 390
1 The Uniqueness of Genes 390
2 Cause For Concern 393
3 False Starts and Dead Ends 399
4 A Better Idea 407
5 A Bullet to Bite 412
6 The Reach of the Code 416
Acknowledgements 418
Bibliography 418
Part IV Taxonomy 422
Species, Taxonomy, and Systematics 424
1 Introduction 424
2 Species 425
3 Taxonomic Pluralism 432
4 The Linnaean Hierarchy 437
Bibliography 446
Homology and Homoplasy 450
1 Introduction 450
2 Similarity 451
3 Hierarchy and Embryonic Development 452
4 Reconceptualizing Homology and Homoplasy 452
5 Homology and Analogy Delineated 453
6 Homoplasy 456
7 Homogeny and Homoplasy 456
8 Convergence 458
9 Parallelism 459
10 Reversals 460
11 Rudiments and Vestiges 461
12 Atavisms 462
13 The Continuum 462
Acknowledgements 463
Bibliography 466
Biological Conceptions of Race 476
1 Introduction 476
2 The Typological Race Concept 477
3 The Geographical Race Concept 481
4 Global Arguments against Human Biological Races 484
5 Ecological and Phylogenetic Conceptions of Race 489
6 Conclusion 498
Bibliography 499
Part V Special Topics 504
Formalisations of Evolutionary Biology 506
Introduction 506
1 The Path to a Galilean Conception of Scientific Theories 507
2 The Complex Structure of Evolutionary Theory 524
3 The Formalisation of Some Component Theories which Comprise Contemporary Evolutionary Theory 526
4 Revisiting Models and Theories 540
Bibliography 541
Functions 546
1 The Problem of Biological Functions 546
2 Organisms, Artefacts, and Agents 547
3 The Selected Effects Account 551
4 Problems with the Selected Effects Account 555
5 Malfunction 557
6 Goal-Directedness 560
7 Kantian Projectivism 565
8 Naturalism 566
Acknowledgements 567
Bibliography 567
Biological Approaches to Mental Representation 570
1 The Problem of Intentionality 570
2 Functional and Semantic Norms 571
3 The Great Divide 574
4 Bridging the Divide: Neuroscience 577
5 Some Problems For Teleosemantics 580
Bibliography 585
Innateness 588
Innateness as Growth 589
Chomsky’s Poverty of Stimulus 594
Canalization and the Epigenetic Landscape 596
Acknowledgements 604
Bibliography 604
Artificial Life 606
1 History and Methodology 606
2 Three Illustrations of Contemporary Artificial Life 609
3 Philosophical Implications of Artificial Life 613
4 Conclusions 621
Bibliography 622
Index 626