Lineage Explanations
Explaining How Biological Mechanisms Change
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8399692 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Brett Calcott (0000-0003-4164-5158, Australian National Botanic Gardens, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2009 |
| Volume | 60 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 51-78 |
| Publication date | 2009-03-01 |
| 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/axn047 |
| OpenAlex | W2022363456 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 19 |
| References cited | 28 |
This paper describes a pattern of explanation prevalent in the biological sciences that I call a ‘lineage explanation’. The aim of these explanations is to make plausible certain trajectories of change through phenotypic space. They do this by laying out a series of stages, where each stage shows how some mechanism worked, and the differences between each adjacent stage demonstrates how one mechanism, through minor modifications, could be changed into another. These explanations are important, for though it is widely accepted that there is an ‘incremental constraint’ on evolutionary change, in an important class of cases it is difficult to see how to satisfy this constraint. I show that lineage explanations answer important questions about evolutionary change, but do so by demonstrating differences between individuals rather than invoking population processes, such as natural selection.1. Introduction2. Turning a ‘Scale’ into a ‘Plume’3. Lineage Explanations in Biology3.1. The evolution of eyes3.2. The evolution of feathers4. The Two Dimensions of a Lineage Explanation4.1. The production dimension4.2. The continuity dimension4.3. The dual role of the parts5. Constraining the Explanations6. Operational and Generative Lineages7. Explaining Change Without Populations8. Conclusion
Biology · Class (philosophy) · Constraint (computer-aided design) · Epistemology · Evolutionary biology · Generative grammar · Lineage (genetic) · Mechanism (biology) · Natural selection · Population · Selection (genetic algorithm) · Sociology · Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science · Demography · Evolution and Genetic Dynamics · Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation · Genetics · Mathematics · Philosophy · Philosophy and History of Science
The Major Transitions in Evolution Revisited
How to dig up minds
Lineage Thinking in Evolutionary Biology
Phylogenetic Distribution and Trajectories of Visual Consciousness
Argumentation Evolved
The proper role of history in evolutionary explanations
Communication before communicative intentions
Population and organismal perspectives on trait origins
Cultural evolution in California and Paris
From seconds to eons
Adaptive signaling in a lineage explanation, needs to be adaptive
Variational propensities
Cognitive novelties, informational form, and structural-causal explanations
A lineage explanation of human normative guidance
Is cultural evolution always fast? Challenging the idea that cognitive gadgets would be capable of rapid and adaptive evolution
Historicity and explanation
Scaffold
What Evolvability Really Is
Chances and Propensities in Evo-Devo
The Changing Role of the Embryo in Evolutionary Thought
Explaining the Brain
Mechanisms and the nature of causation
The Nature of Selection
Relations among fields
Explanation
Modeling mechanisms
What Is a Mechanism? A Counterfactual Account
Strategies for Discovering Mechanisms
Synthesizing Activities and Interactions in the Concept of a Mechanism
Thinking about Mechanisms
Rethinking Mechanistic Explanation
| Unique citing works | 19 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,27 |
| Citation span | 2011 - 2025 (15) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 19 |