Evolution And The Machinery Of Chance

Author : Marshall Abrams
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 293 pages
File Size : 40,8 Mb
Release : 2023-07-10
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780226826639

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Evolution and the Machinery of Chance by Marshall Abrams Pdf

An innovative view of the role of fitness concepts in evolutionary theory. Natural selection is one of the factors responsible for changes in biological populations. Some traits or organisms are fitter than others, and natural selection occurs when there are changes in the distribution of traits in populations because of fitness differences. Many philosophers of biology insist that a trait’s fitness should be defined as an average of the fitnesses of individual members of the population that have the trait. Marshall Abrams argues convincingly against this widespread approach. As he shows, it conflicts with the roles that fitness is supposed to play in evolutionary theory and with the ways that evolutionary biologists use fitness concepts in empirical research. The assumption that a causal kind of fitness is fundamentally a property of actual individuals has resulted in unnecessary philosophical puzzles and years of debate. Abrams came to see that the fitnesses of traits that are the basis of natural selection cannot be defined in terms of the fitnesses of actual members of populations, as philosophers of biology often claim. Rather, it is an overall population-environment system—not actual, particular organisms living in particular environmental conditions—that is the basis of trait fitnesses. Abrams argues that by distinguishing different classes of fitness concepts and the roles they play in the practice of evolutionary biology, we can see that evolutionary biologists’ diverse uses of fitness concepts make sense together and are consistent with the idea that fitness differences cause evolution. Abrams’s insight has broad significance, for it provides a general framework for thinking about the metaphysics of biological evolution and its relations to empirical research. As such, it is a game-changing book for philosophers of biology, biologists who want deeper insight into the nature of evolution, and anyone interested in the applied philosophy of probability.

Author : Grant Ramsey,Charles H. Pence
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 368 pages
File Size : 44,6 Mb
Release : 2016-10-25
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780226401881

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Chance in Evolution by Grant Ramsey,Charles H. Pence Pdf

The first book to synthesize scientific and philosophical work on chance, this edited volume brings together leading biologists, philosophers of science, and historians of science, who collectively explore the role that chance plays or doesn t play, as the case may be in evolution. The first part of the volume places chance in historical context and explores how Darwin, along with his contemporaries, understood chance in addition to its related concepts; how these various concepts changed as Darwin s theory of evolution by natural selection developed into the Modern Synthesis; and how the chanciness of Darwinian theory affected theological resistance to it. The second part explores the importance of chance in current evolutionary theory. The third and final part focuses on recent empirical work in microbial experimental evolution and paleobiology, with the goal of determining how much of a role chance and contingency has played and continues to play in the history of life. The volume s final chapter investigates the perennial topic of chance in human evolution, beginning with the pre-Darwinian, theistic view that humans are at the pinnacle of the natural world and ending with the Darwinian view, which leaves no room for biological progress. It ultimately presents a more tempered view of biological progress and suggests that although our arrival on the evolutionary scene might not have been inevitable, it might not have been due to chance alone. "

Author : Charles H. Pence
Publisher : Academic Press
Page : 192 pages
File Size : 49,8 Mb
Release : 2021-11-25
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780323912921

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The Rise of Chance in Evolutionary Theory by Charles H. Pence Pdf

The Rise of Chance in Evolutionary Theory: A Pompous Parade of Arithmetic explores a pivotal conceptual moment in the history of evolutionary theory: the development of its extensive reliance on a wide array of concepts of chance. It tells the history of a methodological and conceptual development that reshaped our approach to natural selection over a century, ranging from Darwin’s earliest notebooks in the 1830s to the early years of the Modern Synthesis in the 1930s. Far from being a “pompous parade of arithmetic, as one early critic argued, evolution transformed during this period to make these conceptual and technical tools indispensable. This book charts the role of chance in evolutionary theory from its beginnings to the earliest days of modern evolutionary theory, making it an ideal resource for evolutionary biologists, historians, philosophers, and researchers in science studies or biological statistics. Analyzes contributions of key historical figures and assesses how and why these “foundational conclusions were reached by original evolutionary biologists, including Darwin, Galton, Pearson, and more Describes the journey of the role of chance in evolutionary theory and illuminates our contemporary understanding Presents the historical narrative in a non-technical way, focusing on the conceptual structure of evolutionary theory

Author : Eugene V. Koonin
Publisher : FT Press
Page : 530 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 2011-06-23
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780132623179

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The Logic of Chance by Eugene V. Koonin Pdf

The Logic of Chance offers a reappraisal and a new synthesis of theories, concepts, and hypotheses on the key aspects of the evolution of life on earth in light of comparative genomics and systems biology. The author presents many specific examples from systems and comparative genomic analysis to begin to build a new, much more detailed, complex, and realistic picture of evolution. The book examines a broad range of topics in evolutionary biology including the inadequacy of natural selection and adaptation as the only or even the main mode of evolution; the key role of horizontal gene transfer in evolution and the consequent overhaul of the Tree of Life concept; the central, underappreciated evolutionary importance of viruses; the origin of eukaryotes as a result of endosymbiosis; the concomitant origin of cells and viruses on the primordial earth; universal dependences between genomic and molecular-phenomic variables; and the evolving landscape of constraints that shape the evolution of genomes and molecular phenomes. "Koonin's account of viral and pre-eukaryotic evolution is undoubtedly up-to-date. His "mega views" of evolution (given what was said above) and his cosmological musings, on the other hand, are interesting reading." Summing Up: Recommended Reprinted with permission from CHOICE, copyright by the American Library Association.

Author : Samuel Butler
Publisher : Good Press
Page : 215 pages
File Size : 45,9 Mb
Release : 2019-12-19
Category : Fiction
ISBN : EAN:4064066137694

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Luck, or Cunning, as the Main Means of Organic Modification by Samuel Butler Pdf

In this book, the author, Samuel Butler, presents a simplified view of evolutionary theory as a contrast between the idea of intelligent design and the concept of random variation through natural selection. He portrays Darwin, Spencer and Romanes as advocates for luck and Erasmus Darwin, Buffon and himself as proponents of cunning as they believed in the existence of design and purpose in the universe.

Author : George C. Williams
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 219 pages
File Size : 45,7 Mb
Release : 1992-10-01
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780198023395

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Natural Selection by George C. Williams Pdf

In this work, George C. Williams--one of evolutionary biology's most distinguished scholars--examines the mechanisms and meaning of natural selection in evolution. Williams offers his own perspective on modern evolutionary theory, including discussions of the gene as the unit of selection, clade selection and macroevolution, diversity within and among populations, stasis, and other timely and provocative topics. In dealing with the levels-of-selection controversy, he urges a pervasive form of the replicator-vehicle distinction. Natural selection, he argues, takes place in the separate domains of information and matter. Levels-of-selection questions, consequently, require different theoretical devices depending on the domains being discussed. In addressing these topics, Williams presents a synthesis of his three decades of research and creative thought which have contributed greatly to evolutionary biology in this century.

Author : Lee M. Spetner
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 40,8 Mb
Release : 1997
Category : Creation
ISBN : 1880582244

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Not by Chance! by Lee M. Spetner Pdf

The author criticies neo-Darwinism and suggests replacing it with "the nonrandom evolutionary hypothesis (NREH)"--p. 209.

Author : Niles Eldredge,Telmo Pievani,Emanuele Serrelli,Ilya Tëmkin
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 394 pages
File Size : 41,7 Mb
Release : 2016-09-23
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780226426198

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Evolutionary Theory by Niles Eldredge,Telmo Pievani,Emanuele Serrelli,Ilya Tëmkin Pdf

The natural world is infinitely complex and hierarchically structured, with smaller units forming the components of progressively larger systems: molecules make up cells, cells comprise tissues and organs that are, in turn, parts of individual organisms, which are united into populations and integrated into yet more encompassing ecosystems. In the face of such awe-inspiring complexity, there is a need for a comprehensive, non-reductionist evolutionary theory. Having emerged at the crossroads of paleobiology, genetics, and developmental biology, the hierarchical approach to evolution provides a unifying perspective on the natural world and offers an operational framework for scientists seeking to understand the way complex biological systems work and evolve. Coedited by one of the founders of hierarchy theory and featuring a diverse and renowned group of contributors, this volume provides an integrated, comprehensive, cutting-edge introduction to the hierarchy theory of evolution. From sweeping historical reviews to philosophical pieces, theoretical essays, and strictly empirical chapters, it reveals hierarchy theory as a vibrant field of scientific enterprise that holds promise for unification across the life sciences and offers new venues of empirical and theoretical research. Stretching from molecules to the biosphere, hierarchy theory aims to provide an all-encompassing understanding of evolution and—with this first collection devoted entirely to the concept—will help make transparent the fundamental patterns that propel living systems.

Author : Michaelis Michael
Publisher : CRC Press
Page : 175 pages
File Size : 49,8 Mb
Release : 2015-11-18
Category : Nature
ISBN : 9781498700887

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Evolution by Natural Selection by Michaelis Michael Pdf

A persistent argument among evolutionary biologists and philosophers revolves around the nature of natural selection. Evolution by Natural Selection: Confidence, Evidence and the Gap explores this argument by using a theory of persistence as an intentional foil to examine ways in which similar theories can be misunderstood. It discusses Charles Dar

Author : John Tyler Bonner
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 148 pages
File Size : 40,9 Mb
Release : 2013-03-24
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780691157016

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Randomness in Evolution by John Tyler Bonner Pdf

John Tyler Bonner here challenges a central tenet of evolutionary biology.

Author : Elliott Sober
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 397 pages
File Size : 48,6 Mb
Release : 2014-12-10
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780226308883

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The Nature of Selection by Elliott Sober Pdf

The Nature of Selection is a straightforward, self-contained introduction to philosophical and biological problems in evolutionary theory. It presents a powerful analysis of the evolutionary concepts of natural selection, fitness, and adaptation and clarifies controversial issues concerning altruism, group selection, and the idea that organisms are survival machines built for the good of the genes that inhabit them. "Sober's is the answering philosophical voice, the voice of a first-rate philosopher and a knowledgeable student of contemporary evolutionary theory. His book merits broad attention among both communities. It should also inspire others to continue the conversation."-Philip Kitcher, Nature "Elliott Sober has made extraordinarily important contributions to our understanding of biological problems in evolutionary biology and causality. The Nature of Selection is a major contribution to understanding epistemological problems in evolutionary theory. I predict that it will have a long lasting place in the literature."-Richard C. Lewontin

Author : Michael J. Behe
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 340 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 2007-06-05
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781416559047

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The Edge of Evolution by Michael J. Behe Pdf

When Michael J. Behe's first book, Darwin's Black Box, was published in 1996, it launched the intelligent design movement. Critics howled, yet hundreds of thousands of readers -- and a growing number of scientists -- were intrigued by Behe's claim that Darwinism could not explain the complex machinery of the cell. Now, in his long-awaited follow-up, Behe presents far more than a challenge to Darwinism: He presents the evidence of the genetics revolution -- the first direct evidence of nature's mutational pathways -- to radically redefine the debate about Darwinism. How much of life does Darwin's theory explain? Most scientists believe it accounts for everything from the machinery of the cell to the history of life on earth. Darwin's ideas have been applied to law, culture, and politics. But Darwin's theory has been proven only in one sense: There is little question that all species on earth descended from a common ancestor. Overwhelming anatomical, genetic, and fossil evidence exists for that claim. But the crucial question remains: How did it happen? Darwin's proposed mechanism -- random mutation and natural selection -- has been accepted largely as a matter of faith and deduction or, at best, circumstantial evidence. Only now, thanks to genetics, does science allow us to seek direct evidence. The genomes of many organisms have been sequenced, and the machinery of the cell has been analyzed in great detail. The evolutionary responses of microorganisms to antibiotics and humans to parasitic infections have been traced over tens of thousands of generations. As a result, for the first time in history Darwin's theory can be rigorously evaluated. The results are shocking. Although it can explain marginal changes in evolutionary history, random mutation and natural selection explain very little of the basic machinery of life. The "edge" of evolution, a line that defines the border between random and nonrandom mutation, lies very far from where Darwin pointed. Behe argues convincingly that most of the mutations that have defined the history of life on earth have been nonrandom. Although it will be controversial and stunning, this finding actually fits a general pattern discovered by other branches of science in recent decades: The universe as a whole was fine-tuned for life. From physics to cosmology to chemistry to biology, life on earth stands revealed as depending upon an endless series of unlikely events. The clear conclusion: The universe was designed for life.

Author : Vilmos Csányi
Publisher : Duke University Press
Page : 280 pages
File Size : 43,8 Mb
Release : 1989
Category : Science
ISBN : 0822308363

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Evolutionary Systems and Society by Vilmos Csányi Pdf

This work is a bold new effort to embrace all aspects of life--molecular, cellular, behavioral, and cultural--within the formulation of a general theory of evolution that extends classical Darwinian theory to include human society.

Author : Ronald C. Dressman
Publisher : Infinity Publishing
Page : 1 pages
File Size : 41,8 Mb
Release : 2007
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780741435767

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Not by Chance by Ronald C. Dressman Pdf

Author : Jonathan B. Losos
Publisher : Penguin
Page : 384 pages
File Size : 45,5 Mb
Release : 2017-08-08
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780399184932

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Improbable Destinies by Jonathan B. Losos Pdf

A major new book overturning our assumptions about how evolution works Earth’s natural history is full of fascinating instances of convergence: phenomena like eyes and wings and tree-climbing lizards that have evolved independently, multiple times. But evolutionary biologists also point out many examples of contingency, cases where the tiniest change—a random mutation or an ancient butterfly sneeze—caused evolution to take a completely different course. What role does each force really play in the constantly changing natural world? Are the plants and animals that exist today, and we humans ourselves, inevitabilities or evolutionary flukes? And what does that say about life on other planets? Jonathan Losos reveals what the latest breakthroughs in evolutionary biology can tell us about one of the greatest ongoing debates in science. He takes us around the globe to meet the researchers who are solving the deepest mysteries of life on Earth through their work in experimental evolutionary science. Losos himself is one of the leaders in this exciting new field, and he illustrates how experiments with guppies, fruit flies, bacteria, foxes, and field mice, along with his own work with anole lizards on Caribbean islands, are rewinding the tape of life to reveal just how rapid and predictable evolution can be. Improbable Destinies will change the way we think and talk about evolution. Losos's insights into natural selection and evolutionary change have far-reaching applications for protecting ecosystems, securing our food supply, and fighting off harmful viruses and bacteria. This compelling narrative offers a new understanding of ourselves and our role in the natural world and the cosmos.