Evolutionary causation : biological and philosophical reflections / edited by Tobias Uller and Kevin N. Laland.
A comprehensive treatment of the concept of causation in evolutionary biology that makes clear its central role in both historical and contemporary debates.
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| Online Access: |
Full Text (via MIT Press) |
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| Other Authors: | , |
| Format: | eBook |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Cambridge :
MIT Press,
2019.
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| Series: | Vienna series in theoretical biology.
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| Subjects: |
Table of Contents:
- Intro; Contents; Series Foreword; 1. Evolutionary Causation; Introduction; Proximate and Ultimate Causation; Causation and the Role of the Organism in Evolution; A Brief Summary of This Book; Conclusion; Acknowledgments; Notes; References; 2. Causality and the Role of Philosophy of Science; Introduction: Science and/vs. Philosophy of Science?; Four Models; Example I: Proximate vs. Ultimate Causes in Biology; Example II: The Question of (Alleged) Top-down Causation; Example III: The Nature of Functional Explanations; Example IV: The Nature of Causality Itself.
- Conclusion: Causality, Philosophy, and ScienceAcknowledgments; References; 3. Understanding Bias in the Introduction of Variation as an Evolutionary Cause; Understanding Biases in the Introduction of Variation; Three Larger Implications; A Contrast of Theories; Acknowledgments; References; 4. The Shape of Things to Come: Evo Devo Perspectives on Causes and Consequences in Evolution; Introduction; Novelty and Diversity from the Confines of Ancestral Variation; Creating a Landscape for Channeling Innovation and Diversification-Two Case Studies; What Causes Does Evo Devo Contribute?
- What Is Next? Current Conceptual Challenges to Evo DevoConclusion; Acknowledgments; References; 5. Incorporating the Environmentally Sensitive Phenotype into Evolutionary Thinking; Introduction; Limits of the Genotype-to-Phenotype Map; Evolutionary Implications of Phenotypic Plasticity; Demonstrating the Role of Plasticity in Evolution: The Challenge; Using Population Genomics to Address the Plasticity Hypothesis; Plasticity Can Inform Population Genetics; Conclusion; Ackowledgments; References; 6. Genotype-Environment Interaction and the Unscripted Reaction Norm.
- Introduction: Development as Genotype-Environment InteractionThe Norm of Reaction as a Genetic Program; The Unscripted Norm of Reaction: Higher Order GxE Interaction Effects; Genotype-Environment "Entanglement"; A Case for Distributed Causation; Genotype-Environment Interaction and the Genotype Signal in Evolution; Conclusion; Acknowledgments; References; 7. Understanding Niche Construction as an Evolutionary Process; 1. Historical and Philosophical Context to the Debates over Niche Construction; 2. Agency and Process; 3. Conceptual Frameworks and the Reception of NCT.
- 4. Organismal Agency and Evolutionary Process5. Why Does NCT Expect Niche Construction to Be Systematic and Directional?; 6. Empirical and Theoretical Approaches to Demonstrating That Niche Construction Generates an Evolutionary Bias; Conclusion; Acknowledgments; Notes; References; 8. Biological Dynamics and Evolutionary Causation; Introduction; Proximate and Ultimate: A Dichotomy of Timescale and System Dynamics; The Problem of Integrating Micro- and Macroevolutionary Dynamics; Dynamic Stability and Robustness of Ecological Systems as Mechanisms of Evolutionary Stasis.