Reconstructing Change in Historical Systems
Are There Commonalties Between Evolutionary Biology and the Humanities?
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23570360 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Joel Cracraft (0000-0001-7587-8342, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2006 |
| Pages | 270-284 |
| Publication date | 2006-01-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | CHAPTER |
| Venue | Understanding Change (SOURCE_BOOK) |
| Publisher | Palgrave Macmillan UK (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1057/9780230524644_19 |
| OpenAlex | W2482076102 |
| ISBN | 9780230524644 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 22 |
How do we reconstruct history? And how do we explain it? These two broad questions cut across virtually all sciences because most of them are con cerned with historical systems. Biological, astronomical, chemical, geolog ical, and anthropological phenomena, for example, are parts of evolutionary trajectories — they are imbedded in systems that have changed over time. Although many scientists may not think of themselves primarily as ‘historians’ — they may be studying problems that can be assumed to be atemporal, or they may use ‘explanatory’ equations that are time-independent (such as much of traditional physics and chemistry) — nevertheless the systems they study are the result of previous evolutionary change and, to some degree, however imperceptible, are still changing. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
Degree (music) · Epistemology · Physics · Evolution and Science Education · Genetic diversity and population structure · History · Philosophy · Philosophy and History of Science
| Highly cited | No |
|---|