The Philosophy of Evolutionary Theory : Concepts, Inferences, and Probabilities / Elliott Sober.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sober, Elliott, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Evolution (Biology)--Philosophy.

Evolution (Biology).

Probabilities--Philosophy.

Probabilities.

Natural selection--Philosophy.

Natural selection.

Genetics--Philosophy.

Genetics.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xviii, 288 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, England : Cambridge University Press, [2024]

Summary:

"Fitness, natural selection, common ancestry, mutation, chance, taxonomy, and adaptation are central concepts in Darwin's theory of evolution, and in the 20th and 21st century theories that grew out of it. This book uses ideas about probability to discuss philosophical questions that these concepts raise"-- Provided by publisher

Contents:

Cover

Half-title page

Title page

Copyright page

Dedication

Contents

List of Figures

List of Tables

Preface

Acknowledgments

1 A Darwinian Introduction

1.1 Common Ancestry

1.2 Species

1.3 Evolution

1.4 Divergence and Opportunism

1.5 Selection

Natural, Artificial, Sexual, and Bi-leveled

1.6 Heredity

1.7 Gradualism

1.8 Mutation

1.9 Was Darwin "Illogical"?

2 Fitness and Natural Selection

2.1 Malthusian Struggle and Competition

2.2 Fitness

2.3 Fitness Refined

2.4 Estimating Fitnesses

2.5 Type and Token

2.6 Trait Fitnesses Are Averages

2.7 Fitness . Advantageousness

2.8 Improvement in Fitness

2.9 The Groups Above, the Genes Below

3 Units of Selection

3.1 Darwin on Altruism and Group Selection

3.2 Simpson's Paradox

3.3 The Problem of Origination

3.4 The Evolution of Altruism and Selfishness in Groups of Size 2

3.5 Fortuitous Group Benefits and the Definition of a Group

3.6 Reciprocal Altruism

3.7 Inclusive Fitness, Then and Now

3.8 Community Selection

3.9 Group Selection without Altruism

3.10 A Third Unit of Selection

Intragenomic Conflict

3.11 Species Selection and Cultural Group Selection

3.12 Reductionism

3.13 Two Conventionalisms

4 Common Ancestry

4.1 Darwin on Common Ancestry

4.2 What Is Ancestry?

4.3 The Law of Likelihood

4.4 When Common Ancestry Has the Higher Likelihood

4.5 Matches Sometimes Provide Evidence Against a Common Cause

4.6 Matches and Strength of Evidence

4.7 Hypothetico-Deductivism

4.8 Mismatches

4.9 Correlations to the Rescue?

4.10 Concluding Comments

5 Drift

5.1 The Extinction of Family Names

5.2 Strict Neutrality

5.3 The Molecular Clock

5.4 Null Hypotheses

5.5 Alternatives to the Strictly Neutral Theory

5.6 When Drift and Selection Both Affect a Trait's Evolution

5.7 Drift as Cause and Process

5.8 Selection, Drift, and Domination

6 Mutation

6.1 Darwin and Asa Gray

6.2 Two Experiments

6.3 The Evolution of Mutation Rates

6.4 Darwin's Gradualism

6.5 Fisher's Geometric Argument

6.6 From One Mutation to a Sequence of Mutations

6.7 Genome-Wide Association Studies

6.8 Concluding Comments

7 Taxa and Genealogy

7.1 Darwin's Hope

7.2 Ranks and Hierarchy

7.3 Three Systematic Philosophies

7.4 Taxa Are Tokens, Not Types

7.5 Essentialism

7.6 The Taxonomic Status of Ancestors

7.7 Species

7.8 Race

7.9 Inferring Phylogenies

7.10 Inferring the Character States of Ancestors

7.11 Why Use Likelihood to Evaluate Cladistic Parsimony?

7.12 Statistical Consistency

8 Adaptationism

8.1 Darwin's Formulation

8.2 What Is Adaptationism?

8.3 How Genetics Can Get in the Way

8.4 Ancestral Influence (aka "Phylogenetic Inertia")

8.5 Optimality Models

8.6 The Chronological-Order Test of Adaptation Hypotheses

8.7 Testability and Research Programs

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 02 Feb 2024).

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781009376020

1009376020

9781009376044

1009376047

9781009376037

1009376039