John Beatty
Biographic Data
| ID | 224536 |
|---|---|
| NAME | John Beatty |
| GIVEN NAMES | John |
| FAMILY NAME | Beatty |
| SIGNATURE | BEATTY J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of British Columbia |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1168-4279 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 20 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 182 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 20 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1947 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2017 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
Narrative possibility and narrative explanation
What are narratives good for
When What Had to Happen Was Not Bound to Happen
What is it for history to matter? Stephen Gould argued that unpredictability is part of the answer. For example, the "fact" that repeated replays of the history of life would end differently every time is a sign that history matters to the course of evolution. But there is a problem here: if a particular point in the past leaves open alternative possible futures, then in what sense does that point in the past matter with regard to which of the ou…
Chance Variation
How, according to Darwin, does chance variation affect evolutionary outcomes? In his 1866 book, On the Various Contrivances by which British and Foreign Orchids are Fertilised by Insects , Darwin developed an argument that played an important role in his overall case for evolution by natural selection, as articulated in later editions of the Origin . This argument also figured significantly in Darwin's reflections on the theological dimensions of…
Replaying Life’s Tape
Untangling the McClintock myths
Naishan Dene Creativity with Monsters
A Naishan Dene woman makes a semantic leap in equating mythological monsters with dinosaurs, not unlike the way someone might equate dragons with dinosaurs. The woman specifically discusses her reasons for equating these two concepts
Why Do Biologists Argue Like They Do
“Theoretical pluralism” obtains when there are good evidential reasons for accommodating multiple theories of the same domain. Issues of “relative significance” often arise in connection with the investigation of such domains. In this paper, I describe and give examples of theoretical pluralism and relative significance issues. Then I explain why theoretical pluralism so often obtains in biology—and why issues of relative significance arise—in te…
Suffering Made Real
Sound Symbolism and Monsters
The Empire of Chance
The Empire of Chance tells how quantitative ideas of chance transformed the natural and social sciences, as well as daily life over the last three centuries. A continuous narrative connects the earliest application of probability and statistics in gambling and insurance to the most recent forays into law, medicine, polling and baseball. Separate chapters explore the theoretical and methodological impact in biology, physics and psychology. Themes …
Weighing the risks
Evolution
The Propensity Interpretation of ‘Fitness‘—No Interpretation is No Substitute
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Chance and Natural Selection
Among the liveliest disputes in evolutionary biology today are disputes concerning the role of chance in evolution—more specifically, disputes concerning the relative evolutionary importance of natural selection vs. so-called “random drift”. The following discussion is an attempt to sort out some of the broad issues involved in those disputes. In the first half of this paper, I try to explain the differences between evolution by natural selection…
Applications of Inductive Logic
Optimal-Design Models and the Strategy of Model Building in Evolutionary Biology
The prevalence of optimality models in the literature of evolutionary biology is testimony to their popularity and importance. Evolutionary biologist R. C. Lewontin, whose criticisms of optimality models are considered here, reflects that “optimality arguments have become extremely popular in the last fifteen years, and at present represent the dominant mode of thought.” Although optimality models have received little attention in the philosophic…
The Propensity Interpretation of Fitness
The concept of “fitness” is a notion of central importance to evolutionary theory. Yet the interpretation of this concept and its role in explanations of evolutionary phenomena have remained obscure. We provide a propensity interpretation of fitness, which we argue captures the intended reference of this term as it is used by evolutionary theorists. Using the propensity interpretation of fitness, we provide a Hempelian reconstruction of explanati…
Systemic Aesthetics
The Kiowa-Apache are a small group of Apachean speakers living in the area in and near Anadarko, Oklahoma. Many anthropologists believe they separated from the other Apachean speakers, who now live in the Southwest, about 400 years ago, when they moved out onto the plains and began to function as a band of the linguistically unrelated Kiowa. Some of the early literature (Mooney 1895,1907), dismisses the Kiowa-Apache as simply being a band of the …
Memoirs of a Volunteer, 1861-1863
The Propensity Interpretation of Fitness
The concept of “fitness” is a notion of central importance to evolutionary theory. Yet the interpretation of this concept and its role in explanations of evolutionary phenomena have remained obscure. We provide a propensity interpretation of fitness, which we argue captures the intended reference of this term as it is used by evolutionary theorists. Using the propensity interpretation of fitness, we provide a Hempelian reconstruction of explanati…
Replaying Life’s Tape
Chance and Natural Selection
Among the liveliest disputes in evolutionary biology today are disputes concerning the role of chance in evolution—more specifically, disputes concerning the relative evolutionary importance of natural selection vs. so-called “random drift”. The following discussion is an attempt to sort out some of the broad issues involved in those disputes. In the first half of this paper, I try to explain the differences between evolution by natural selection…
Why Do Biologists Argue Like They Do
“Theoretical pluralism” obtains when there are good evidential reasons for accommodating multiple theories of the same domain. Issues of “relative significance” often arise in connection with the investigation of such domains. In this paper, I describe and give examples of theoretical pluralism and relative significance issues. Then I explain why theoretical pluralism so often obtains in biology—and why issues of relative significance arise—in te…
What are narratives good for
Optimal-Design Models and the Strategy of Model Building in Evolutionary Biology
The prevalence of optimality models in the literature of evolutionary biology is testimony to their popularity and importance. Evolutionary biologist R. C. Lewontin, whose criticisms of optimality models are considered here, reflects that “optimality arguments have become extremely popular in the last fifteen years, and at present represent the dominant mode of thought.” Although optimality models have received little attention in the philosophic…
Narrative possibility and narrative explanation
When What Had to Happen Was Not Bound to Happen
What is it for history to matter? Stephen Gould argued that unpredictability is part of the answer. For example, the "fact" that repeated replays of the history of life would end differently every time is a sign that history matters to the course of evolution. But there is a problem here: if a particular point in the past leaves open alternative possible futures, then in what sense does that point in the past matter with regard to which of the ou…
The Propensity Interpretation of ‘Fitness‘—No Interpretation is No Substitute
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Chance Variation
How, according to Darwin, does chance variation affect evolutionary outcomes? In his 1866 book, On the Various Contrivances by which British and Foreign Orchids are Fertilised by Insects , Darwin developed an argument that played an important role in his overall case for evolution by natural selection, as articulated in later editions of the Origin . This argument also figured significantly in Darwin's reflections on the theological dimensions of…
Memoirs of a Volunteer, 1861-1863
Systemic Aesthetics
The Kiowa-Apache are a small group of Apachean speakers living in the area in and near Anadarko, Oklahoma. Many anthropologists believe they separated from the other Apachean speakers, who now live in the Southwest, about 400 years ago, when they moved out onto the plains and began to function as a band of the linguistically unrelated Kiowa. Some of the early literature (Mooney 1895,1907), dismisses the Kiowa-Apache as simply being a band of the …
The Propensity Interpretation of Fitness
The concept of “fitness” is a notion of central importance to evolutionary theory. Yet the interpretation of this concept and its role in explanations of evolutionary phenomena have remained obscure. We provide a propensity interpretation of fitness, which we argue captures the intended reference of this term as it is used by evolutionary theorists. Using the propensity interpretation of fitness, we provide a Hempelian reconstruction of explanati…
Optimal-Design Models and the Strategy of Model Building in Evolutionary Biology
The prevalence of optimality models in the literature of evolutionary biology is testimony to their popularity and importance. Evolutionary biologist R. C. Lewontin, whose criticisms of optimality models are considered here, reflects that “optimality arguments have become extremely popular in the last fifteen years, and at present represent the dominant mode of thought.” Although optimality models have received little attention in the philosophic…
Applications of Inductive Logic
The Propensity Interpretation of ‘Fitness‘—No Interpretation is No Substitute
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Chance and Natural Selection
Among the liveliest disputes in evolutionary biology today are disputes concerning the role of chance in evolution—more specifically, disputes concerning the relative evolutionary importance of natural selection vs. so-called “random drift”. The following discussion is an attempt to sort out some of the broad issues involved in those disputes. In the first half of this paper, I try to explain the differences between evolution by natural selection…
Evolution
Weighing the risks
The Empire of Chance
The Empire of Chance tells how quantitative ideas of chance transformed the natural and social sciences, as well as daily life over the last three centuries. A continuous narrative connects the earliest application of probability and statistics in gambling and insurance to the most recent forays into law, medicine, polling and baseball. Separate chapters explore the theoretical and methodological impact in biology, physics and psychology. Themes …
Sound Symbolism and Monsters
Suffering Made Real
Why Do Biologists Argue Like They Do
“Theoretical pluralism” obtains when there are good evidential reasons for accommodating multiple theories of the same domain. Issues of “relative significance” often arise in connection with the investigation of such domains. In this paper, I describe and give examples of theoretical pluralism and relative significance issues. Then I explain why theoretical pluralism so often obtains in biology—and why issues of relative significance arise—in te…
Naishan Dene Creativity with Monsters
A Naishan Dene woman makes a semantic leap in equating mythological monsters with dinosaurs, not unlike the way someone might equate dragons with dinosaurs. The woman specifically discusses her reasons for equating these two concepts
Untangling the McClintock myths
Chance Variation
How, according to Darwin, does chance variation affect evolutionary outcomes? In his 1866 book, On the Various Contrivances by which British and Foreign Orchids are Fertilised by Insects , Darwin developed an argument that played an important role in his overall case for evolution by natural selection, as articulated in later editions of the Origin . This argument also figured significantly in Darwin's reflections on the theological dimensions of…
Replaying Life’s Tape
When What Had to Happen Was Not Bound to Happen
What is it for history to matter? Stephen Gould argued that unpredictability is part of the answer. For example, the "fact" that repeated replays of the history of life would end differently every time is a sign that history matters to the course of evolution. But there is a problem here: if a particular point in the past leaves open alternative possible futures, then in what sense does that point in the past matter with regard to which of the ou…
What are narratives good for
Narrative possibility and narrative explanation
Epistemology (16 works) · Philosophy (16 works) · Computer Science (9 works) · History (9 works) · Sociology (8 works) · Philosophy (6 works) · Philosophy and History of Science (6 works) · Art (5 works) · Biology (5 works) · Psychology (5 works)