Comparative thinking in biology / Adrian Currie.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Currie, Adrian, author.

Series:

Cambridge elements. Elements in the philosophy of biology 2515-1126.

Cambridge elements. Elements in the philosophy of biology, 2515-1126

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Evolution (Biology).

Thought and thinking.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (75 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2021.

System Details:

text file

PDF

Summary:

Biologists often study living systems in light of their having evolved, of their being the products of various processes of heredity, adaptation, ancestry, and so on. In their investigations, then, biologists think comparatively: they situate lineages into models of those evolutionary processes, comparing their targets with ancestral relatives and with analogous evolutionary outcomes. This element characterizes this mode of investigation - 'comparative thinking' - and puts it to work in understanding why biological science takes the shape it does. Importantly, comparative thinking is local: what we can do with knowledge of a lineage is limited by the evolutionary processes into which it fits. In light of this analysis, the Element examines the experimental study of animal cognition, and macroevolutionary investigation of the 'shape of life', demonstrating the importance of comparative thinking in understanding both the power and limitations of biological knowledge.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Feb 2021).

Other Format:

Print version:

ISBN:

9781108616683

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.