Making sense of evolution : the conceptual foundations of evolutionary biology / Massimo Pigliucci and Jonathan Kaplan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Pigliucci, Massimo, 1964-

Contributor:

Kaplan, Jonathan Michael.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Evolution (Biology).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (309 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2006.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Making Sense of Evolution explores contemporary evolutionary biology, focusing on the elements of theories-selection, adaptation, and species-that are complex and open to multiple possible interpretations, many of which are incompatible with one another and with other accepted practices in the discipline. Particular experimental methods, for example, may demand one understanding of "selection," while the application of the same concept to another area of evolutionary biology could necessitate a very different definition. Spotlighting these conceptual difficulties and presenting alternate theoretical interpretations that alleviate this incompatibility, Massimo Pigliucci and Jonathan Kaplan intertwine scientific and philosophical analysis to produce a coherent picture of evolutionary biology. Innovative and controversial, Making Sense of Evolution encourages further development of the Modern Synthesis and outlines what might be necessary for the continued refinement of this evolving field.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

PRELUDE. Evolutionary Biology and Conceptual Analysis

1. Natural Selection and Fitness

2. How (Not) to Measure Natural Selection

3. The Targets and Units of Selectlon

4. Studying Constraints through G-Matrices

5. A Quarter Century of Spandrels

6. Functions and For-ness in Biology

7. Testing Adaptive Hypotheses

8. Slippery Landscapes

9. Species as Family Resemblance Concepts

10. Testing Biological Hypotheses

CODA. A Philosophical Dialogue

References

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 273-292) and index.

ISBN:

9786612537646

9781282537644

1282537644

9780226668352

0226668355

OCLC:

593240124