Pruning the Tree of Life
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8399239 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Karen Neander (Australian National University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1995 |
| Volume | 46 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 59-80 |
| Publication date | 1995-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| 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/46.1.59 |
| OpenAlex | W1980877681 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 37 |
| References cited | 11 |
Some (eg. Elliott Sober) argue that natural selection does not explain the genotypic arid phenotypic properties of individuals. On this view, natural selection explains the adaptedness of individuals, not by explaining why the individuals that exist have the adaptations they do, but rather by explaining why the individuals that exist are the ones with those adaptations. This paper argues that this ‘Negative’ view of natural selection ignores the fact that natural selection is a cumulative selection process. So understood, it explains how the genetic sequences that individuals inherit and that are responsible for their complex (and co-adapted) adaptations first arose in the gene-pool.
Adaptation (eye) · Biology · Epistemology · Evolutionary biology · Gene · Natural (archaeology) · Natural selection · Phylogenetics · Pruning · Selection (genetic algorithm) · Tree of life (biology) · Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science · Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation · Genetics · Philosophy · Philosophy and History of Science
A Generalized Selected Effects Theory of Function
Can Cumulative Selection Explain Adaptation
Evolutionary Theory in Philosophical Focus
Evolutionary Theory in Philosophical Focus
Evolutionary Theory in Philosophical Focus
Functional Explanation
What Biological Functions Are and Why They Matter
Natural Selection and Distributive Explanation
Explaining Complex Adaptations
Strong liberal representationalism
What can natural selection explain
The negative view of natural selection
Natural selection and the limitations of environmental resources
Probabilistic causation and the explanatory role of natural selection
Population and organismal perspectives on trait origins
Assessing statistical views of natural selection
Selection explanations of token traits
Function and Selection Beyond Externalism
Hawks, Doves, and Perissodus microlepis. Undermining the selected effects theory of function
Cultural Selection
The Reliability Challenge and the Epistemology of Logic
Did Darwin really answer Paley’s question
New challenges to the selected effects account of biological function
Evolutionary debunking arguments and the explanatory scope of natural selection
Population thinking as trope nominalism
Replication without replicators
Evolution by means of natural selection without reproduction
There Is No Asymmetry of Identity Assumptions in the Debate over Selection and Individuals
Individualism and Evolutionary Psychology (or
Defining Paradigm Darwinian Populations
Functions and Populations
Natural Selection and Contrastive Explanation
Is Sex Really Necessary? And Other Questions for Lewens
Natural Kinds and Natural Kind Terms
Evolution, Wisconsin Style
Biological Function, Selection, and Reduction
Natural Selection's Explanatory Scope
| Unique citing works | 37 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,19 |
| Citation span | 1995 - 2026 (32) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 35 |