An Explication of the Causal Dimension of Drift
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8398134 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Peter Gildenhuys (University of Pittsburgh, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2009 |
| Volume | 60 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 521-555 |
| Publication date | 2009-09-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0007-0882 • E-ISSN: 1464-3537 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/bjps/axp019 |
| OpenAlex | W2117302830 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 12 |
| References cited | 32 |
Among philosophers, controversy over the notion of drift in population genetics is ongoing. This is at least partly because the notion of drift has an ambiguous usage among population geneticists. My goal in this paper is to explicate the causal dimension of drift, to say what causal influences are responsible for the stochasticity in population genetics models. It is commonplace for population genetics to oppose the influence of selection to that of drift, and to consider how the dynamics of populations are altered when each has greater or lesser influence. I define the causes that are referred to as drift when researchers speak this way. 1. Introduction 2. Populations and Variant Types 3. The Cause–Effect Ambiguity of Drift 4. Non-directional Factors in Population Genetics 5. How Nev Is Used in Population Genetics 6. Causal Conceptions of Drift 6.1. The Millstein/Beatty conception of drift 6.2. Rosenberg and Bouchard: Drift as initial conditions 7. NINPICs 7.1. Why drift is instituted by NINPICs 7.2. How NINPICS work 7.3. NINPICs and random sampling 7.4. Independent sampling and effective population size 7.5. Variance in progeny number 7.6. Population effects of NINPICs 8. NINPICs and the Stochastic Character of Selection Theory 9. Conclusion Appendix
Ambiguity · Causality (physics) · Dimension (graph theory) · Econometrics · Economics · Epistemology · Explication · Genealogy · Genetic drift · Genetic variation · Linguistics · Physics · Population · Positive economics · Selection (genetic algorithm) · Sociology · Variance (accounting) · Computer Science · Demography · Evolution and Genetic Dynamics · History · Mathematics · Philosophy · Philosophy and History of Science
The Principle of Stasis
The origins of the stochastic theory of population genetics
How should we distinguish between selectable and circumstantial traits
Drift beyond Wright–Fisher
Two kinds of drift
Driftability
Driftability and niche construction
Is genetic drift a force
Five chances in evolution
Causal Equations without Ceteris Paribus Clauses
Statistical Autonomous Explanations and the Patterns of Nature
Arbitrariness and Causation in Classical Population Genetics
Evolution and the Levels of Selection
Making Things Happen
The Units of Selection
Adaptation and Environment
The genetic structure of populations
The Trials of Life
Chance and the Patterns of Drift
Manipulation and the Causes of Evolution
Last Will and Testament
Random Drift and the Omniscient Viewpoint
The Empirical Nonequivalence of Genic and Genotypic Models of Selection
Chance and Natural Selection
Interpretations of Probability in Evolutionary Theory
The Indeterministic Character of Evolutionary Theory
On Representing the Relationship between the Mathematical and the Empirical
Fitness, Probability and the Principles of Natural Selection
Natural Selection as a Population-Level Causal Process
| Citations per year | 0.75 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2010 - 2025 (16) |
| Highly cited | No |