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1.
Debates over adaptationism can be clarified and partially resolved by careful consideration of the ‘grain’ at which evolutionary
processes are described. The framework of ‘adaptive landscapes’ can be used to illustrate and facilitate this investigation.
We argue that natural selection may have special status at an intermediate grain of analysis of evolutionary processes. The
cases of sickle-cell disease and genomic imprinting are used as case studies.
相似文献
Peter Godfrey-SmithEmail: |
2.
Tim Lewens 《Biology & philosophy》2009,24(2):161-182
Godfrey-Smith (2001) has distinguished three types of adaptationism. This article builds on his analysis, and revises it in places, by distinguishing
seven varieties of adaptationism. This taxonomy allows us to clarify what is at stake in debates over adaptationism, and it
also helps to cement the importance of Gould and Lewontin’s ‘Spandrels’ essay. Some adaptationists have suggested that their
essay does not offer any coherent alternative to the adaptationist programme: it consists only in an exhortation to test adaptationist
hypotheses more thoroughly than was usual in the 1970s. Here it is argued that the ‘Spandrels’ paper points towards a genuinely
non-adaptationist methodology implicit in much evolutionary developmental biology. This conclusion helps to expose the links
between older debates over adaptationism and more recent questions about the property of evolvability.
相似文献
Tim LewensEmail: Email: |
3.
Angela Potochnik 《Biology & philosophy》2009,24(2):183-197
The fate of optimality modeling is typically linked to that of adaptationism: the two are thought to stand or fall together
(Gould and Lewontin, Proc Relig Soc Lond 205:581–598, 1979; Orzack and Sober, Am Nat 143(3):361–380, 1994). I argue here that
this is mistaken. The debate over adaptationism has tended to focus on one particular use of optimality models, which I refer
to here as their strong use. The strong use of an optimality model involves the claim that selection is the only important
influence on the evolutionary outcome in question and is thus linked to adaptationism. However, biologists seldom intend this
strong use of optimality models. One common alternative that I term the weak use simply involves the claim that an optimality
model accurately represents the role of selection in bringing about the outcome. This and other weaker uses of optimality
models insulate the optimality approach from criticisms of adaptationism, and they account for the prominence of optimality
modeling (broadly construed) in population biology. The centrality of these uses of optimality models ensures a continuing
role for the optimality approach, regardless of the fate of adaptationism.
相似文献
Angela PotochnikEmail: |
4.
Peter Godfrey-Smith 《Biology & philosophy》2007,22(3):429-437
Jablonka and Lamb's claim that evolutionary biology is undergoing a ‘revolution’ is queried. But the very concept of revolutionary
change has uncertain application to a field organized in the manner of contemporary biology. The explanatory primacy of sequence
properties is also discussed.
相似文献
Peter Godfrey-SmithEmail: |
5.
Roger Sansom 《Biology & philosophy》2009,24(4):441-459
One current version of the internalism/externalism debate in evolutionary theory focuses on the relative importance of developmental
constraints in evolutionary explanation. The received view of developmental constraints sees them as an internalist concept
that tend to be shared across related species as opposed to selective pressures that are not. Thus, to the extent that constraints
can explain anything, they can better explain similarity across species, while natural selection is better able to explain
their differences. I challenge both of these aspects of the received view and propose a hierarchical view of constraints.
相似文献
Roger SansomEmail: |
6.
Chris Haufe 《Biology & philosophy》2008,23(1):115-128
The importance of mate choice and sexual selection has been emphasized by the majority of evolutionary psychologists. This
paper assesses three cases of work on mate choice and sexual selection in evolutionary psychology: David Buss on cross-cultural
human mate preferences, Randy Thornhill and Steve Gangestad on the link between mate preferences and fluctuating asymmetry,
and Geoffrey Miller on the role of Fisher’s runaway process in human evolution. A mixture of conceptual and empirical problems
in each case highlights the general weakness of work in evolutionary psychology on these issues.
相似文献
Chris HaufeEmail: |
7.
T. Ryan Gregory 《Evolution》2008,1(3):259-273
The occurrence, generality, and causes of large-scale evolutionary trends—directional changes over long periods of time—have
been the subject of intensive study and debate in evolutionary science. Large-scale patterns in the history of life have also
been of considerable interest to nonspecialists, although misinterpretations and misunderstandings of this important issue
are common and can have significant implications for an overall understanding of evolution. This paper provides an overview
of how trends are identified, categorized, and explained in evolutionary biology. Rather than reviewing any particular trend
in detail, the intent is to provide a framework for understanding large-scale evolutionary patterns in general and to highlight
the fact that both the patterns and their underlying causes are usually quite complex.
相似文献
T. Ryan GregoryEmail: |
8.
T. Ryan Gregory 《Evolution》2008,1(2):121-137
Charles Darwin sketched his first evolutionary tree in 1837, and trees have remained a central metaphor in evolutionary biology
up to the present. Today, phylogenetics—the science of constructing and evaluating hypotheses about historical patterns of
descent in the form of evolutionary trees—has become pervasive within and increasingly outside evolutionary biology. Fostering
skills in “tree thinking” is therefore a critical component of biological education. Conversely, misconceptions about evolutionary
trees can be very detrimental to one’s understanding of the patterns and processes that have occurred in the history of life.
This paper provides a basic introduction to evolutionary trees, including some guidelines for how and how not to read them.
Ten of the most common misconceptions about evolutionary trees and their implications for understanding evolution are addressed.
相似文献
T. Ryan GregoryEmail: |
9.
Anya Plutynski 《Biology & philosophy》2008,23(5):605-623
The discussion of the adaptive landscape in the philosophical literature appears to be divided along the following lines.
On the one hand, some claim that the adaptive landscape is either “uninterpretable” or incoherent. On the other hand, some
argue that the adaptive landscape has been an important heuristic, or tool in the service of explaining, as well as proposing
and testing hypotheses about evolutionary change. This paper attempts to reconcile these two views.
相似文献
Anya PlutynskiEmail: |
10.
This paper focuses on evolution as a unifying theme in biology education. Our aim is to argue that the different topics taught
in secondary school biology classes should be enriched with and linked together by means of accounts of the history of life.
We named this approach a “natural history perspective” on biology education. An essential aspect of the natural history perspective
is the claim that evolutionary history forms the context for the development of an understanding of evolutionary processes.
While there are some indications that a natural history perspective can function as a context for understanding micro-evolutionary
processes, more research is called for.
相似文献
Esther M. van DijkEmail: |
11.
Abhijeet Bardapurkar 《Evolution》2008,1(3):299-305
This paper critically reviews and characterizes the student's causal-explanatory understanding; this is done as a step toward
explicating the problematic of evolution education as it concerns the cognitive difficulties in understanding Darwin's theory of natural selection. The review concludes that the student's understanding is fundamentally different from Darwin's, for
the student understands evolutionary change as necessary individual transformation caused by the transformative action of
various physical and behavioral factors. This is in complete contrast to Darwin's (and even the Darwinian's, for that matter)
understanding of evolutionary change as a change caused by accumulative selection. Hence, to understand natural selection,
the student has to learn to “see” how the accumulative selection causes evolutionary change.
相似文献
Abhijeet BardapurkarEmail: |
12.
Causal Explanation of Indonesian Forest Fires: Concepts, Applications, and Research Priorities 总被引:1,自引:0,他引:1
Andrew P. Vayda 《Human ecology: an interdisciplinary journal》2006,34(5):615-635
Problems with studies, claims, and assumptions that have been made about the causes of fires in Indonesia's tropical moist forests are identified, and the kinds of concepts, methods, prioritizing, and data needed to resolve the problems are discussed. Separate sections are devoted to studying ignitions, studying fire susceptibility and fire behavior, and using the goal of causal explanation to guide interdisciplinary research.
相似文献
Andrew P. VaydaEmail: |
13.
Patrick Forber 《Biology & philosophy》2009,24(2):247-266
Evolutionary biology, indeed any science that attempts to reconstruct prehistory, faces practical limitations on available
data. These limitations create the problem of contrast failure: specific observations may fail to discriminate between rival evolutionary hypotheses. Assessing the risk of contrast failure
provides a way to evaluate testing protocols in evolutionary science. Here I will argue that part of the methodological critique
in the Spandrels paper involves diagnosing contrast failure problems. I then distinguish the problem of contrast failure from the more familiar
philosophical problem of underdetermination, and demonstrate how contrast failure arises in scientific practice with an investigation
into Lewontin and White’s (Evolution 14:116–129, 1960) estimation of an adaptive landscape.
相似文献
Patrick ForberEmail: |
14.
15.
This paper introduces a threshold policy with hysteresis (TPH) for the control of one-predator one-prey models. The models studied are the Lotka–Volterra and Rosenzweig–MacArthur
two species density-dependent predator–prey models and the Arditi–Ginzburg nondimensional ratio-dependent model. The proposed
policy (TPH) changes the dynamics of the system in such a way that a bounded oscillation is achieved confined to a region
that does not allow extinction of either species. The policy can be designed by a suitable choice of so called virtual equilibrium
points in a simple and intuitive manner.
相似文献
Amit Bhaya (Corresponding author)Email: |
16.
Adam M. Goldstein 《Evolution》2009,2(3):548-559
A weblog (“blog”) is an publication on the WorldWideWeb in which brief entries are displayed in date order, much like a diary
or journal. I describe the general characteristics of blogs, contrasting blogs with other of WWW formats for self-publishing.
I describe four categories for blogs about evolutionary biology: “professional,” “amateur,” “apostolic,” and “imaginative.”
I also discuss blog networks. I identify paradigms of each category. Throughout, I aim to illuminate blogs about evolutionary
biology from the point of view of a user looking for information about the topic. I conclude that blogs are not the best type
of source for systematic and authoritative information about evolution, and that they are best used by the information-seeker
as a way of identifying what issues are of interest in the community of evolutionists and for generating research leads or
fresh insights on one’s own work.
相似文献
Adam M. GoldsteinEmail: |
17.
Does Investment in the Sexes Differ When Fathers Are Absent? 总被引:1,自引:1,他引:0
Mhairi A. Gibson 《Human nature (Hawthorne, N.Y.)》2008,19(3):263-276
This study examines child survival and growth in a patrilineal Ethiopian community as a function of father absence and sex.
In line with evolutionary predictions for sex-biased parental investment, the absence of a father and associated constraints
on household resources is more detrimental for sons’ than daughters’ survival in infancy. Father absence doubles a son’s risk
of dying in infancy but has a positive influence on the well-being of female members of the household, improving daughter
survival, growth, and maternal nutritional status. Lack of paternal investment may be compensated for by other matrilateral
kin through increased reciprocity between mother, daughter, and sister.
相似文献
Mhairi A. GibsonEmail: |
18.
Massimo Pigliucci 《Biology & philosophy》2008,23(5):591-603
Sewall Wright introduced the metaphor of evolution on “adaptive landscapes” in a pair of papers published in 1931 and 1932.
The metaphor has been one of the most influential in modern evolutionary biology, although recent theoretical advancements
show that it is deeply flawed and may have actually created research questions that are not, in fact, fecund. In this paper
I examine in detail what Wright actually said in the 1932 paper, as well as what he thought of the matter at the very end
of his career, in 1988. While the metaphor is flawed, some of the problems which Wright was attempting to address are still
with us today, and are in the process of being reformulated as part of a forthcoming Extended Evolutionary Synthesis.
相似文献
Massimo PigliucciEmail: |
19.
Steve Stewart-Williams 《Human nature (Hawthorne, N.Y.)》2008,19(4):414-425
Inclusive fitness theory provides a compelling explanation for the evolution of altruism among kin. However, a completely
satisfactory account of non-kin altruism is still lacking. The present study compared the level of altruism found among siblings
with that found among friends and mates and sought to reconcile the findings with an evolutionary explanation for human altruism.
Participants (163 males and 156 females) completed a questionnaire about help given to a sibling, friend, or mate. Overall,
participants gave friends and mates as much or more help than they gave siblings. However, as the cost of help increased,
siblings received a progressively larger share of the help, whereas friends and mates received a progressively smaller share,
despite the fact that participants were closer emotionally to friends and mates than they were to siblings. These findings
help to explain the relative standing of friends and mates as recipients of altruistic aid.
相似文献
Steve Stewart-WilliamsEmail: |
20.
Brett Calcott 《Biology & philosophy》2008,23(5):639-657
According to Pigliucci and Kaplan, there is a revolution underway in how we understand fitness landscapes. Recent models suggest
that a perennial problem in these landscapes—how to get from one peak across a fitness valley to another peak—is, in fact,
non-existent. In this paper I assess the structure and the extent of Pigliucci and Kaplan’s proposed revolution and argue
for two points. First, I provide an alternative interpretation of what underwrites this revolution, motivated by some recent
work on model-based science. Second, I show that the implications of this revolution need to carefully assessed depending on question being asked,
for peak-shifting is not central to all evolutionary questions that fitness landscapes have been used to explore.
相似文献
Brett CalcottEmail: |