Structure and contingency : evolutionary processes in life and human society / edited by John Bintliff.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Bintliff, J. L. (John L.)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Human evolution--Philosophy.

Human evolution.

Physical Description:

xxii, 153 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Leicester University Press, 1999.

Summary:

The theme of this book is the appropriate methodology for the study of the history of life on earth. In particular, it focuses on the interplay between form and structure -- the things that we might predict and model - and the things that we cannot predict -- the arbitrary and the contingent -- which may be as important, or even more so, than the way in which life on earth has evolved.

The contributors are drawn from the disciplines of palaeontology, archaeology, anthropology and human evolution; the timescales covered are from the development of life on earth, through human evolution, to later prehistory and historic archaeology. Underpinning the theme of the book is the work of Stephen Jay Gould, who has developed a distinctive philosophy of history concerning the nature of long-term and short-term evolutionary processes, particularly stressing the interplay between structure and contingency.

Contents:

Introduction: The scales of contingency and punctuation in history / Stephen Jay Gould ix

1 Selection and the fossil record / Chris Paul 1

2 Evolution and environmental controls: Palaeozoic Black Deaths / Michael House 14

3 Pattern and process in hominid evolution / Rob Foley 31

4 Contingency, patterning and species in hominid evolution / Alan Bilsborough 43

5 The human evolutionary time-scale and the transition between hunting and gathering, and farming / Robert Layton 102

6 History, ecology, contingency, sustainability / I. G. Simmons 118

7 Structure, contingency, narrative and timelessness / John Bintliff 132.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0718500253

0718500261

OCLC:

37238895