Concepts and Methods in Evolutionary Biology

Robert N. Brandon (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

240 Seiten

1996
Cambridge University Press (Verlag)
978-0-521-49545-5 (ISBN)

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Robert Brandon is one of the most important and influential of contemporary philosophers of biology. This collection of his recent essays covers all the traditional topics in the philosophy of evolutionary biology and as such could serve as an introduction to the field. There are essays on the nature of fitness, teleology, the structure of the theory of natural selection, and the levels of selection. The book also deals with newer topics that are less frequently discussed but are of growing interest, for example the evolution of human language and the role of experimentation in evolutionary biology. A special feature of the collection is that it avoids jargon and is written in a style that will appeal to working evolutionary biologists as well as philosophers.

Introduction; Part I: 1. Adaptation and evolutionary theory; 2. Biological teleology: questions and explanations; 3. A structural description of evolutionary theory; 4. The levels of selection; Part II: 5. Phenotypic plasticity, cultural transmission and human sociobiology; 6. From icons to symbols: some speculations on the origins of language; 7. Individuality, pluralism, and the phylogenetic species concept; 8. The levels of selection: a hierarchy of interactors; Part III: 9. Theory and experiment in evolutionary biology; 10. The co-evolution of organism and environment; 11. Reductionism versus holism versus mechanism; References; Index.

Erscheint lt. Verlag	26.1.1996
Reihe/Serie	Cambridge Studies in Philosophy and Biology
Zusatzinfo	10 Line drawings, unspecified
Verlagsort	Cambridge
Sprache	englisch
Maße	159 x 235 mm
Gewicht	522 g
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie
Themenwelt	Naturwissenschaften ► Biologie ► Evolution
ISBN-10	0-521-49545-8 / 0521495458
ISBN-13	978-0-521-49545-5 / 9780521495455
Zustand	Neuware