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Series:   Elements in the Philosophy of Biology

The Role of Mathematics in Evolutionary Theory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2020

Jun Otsuka
Jun Otsuka
Affiliation:
Kyoto University, Japan

Summary

The central role of mathematical modeling in modern evolutionary theory has raised a concern as to why and how abstract formulae can say anything about empirical phenomena of evolution. This Element introduces existing philosophical approaches to this problem and proposes a new account according to which evolutionary models are based on causal, and not just mathematical, assumptions. The novel account features causal models both as the Humean 'uniform nature' underlying evolutionary induction and as the organizing framework that integrates mathematical and empirical assumptions into a cohesive network of beliefs that functions together to achieve epistemic goals of evolutionary biology.
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Keywords

evolutionary theorycausal modellingfitnessmathematical explanationpopulation genetics
Type
Element
Information
Series: Elements in the Philosophy of Biology
Online ISBN: 9781108672115
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication: 17 October 2019

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The Role of Mathematics in Evolutionary Theory
  • Jun Otsuka, Kyoto University, Japan
  • Online ISBN: 9781108672115
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The Role of Mathematics in Evolutionary Theory
  • Jun Otsuka, Kyoto University, Japan
  • Online ISBN: 9781108672115
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The Role of Mathematics in Evolutionary Theory
  • Jun Otsuka, Kyoto University, Japan
  • Online ISBN: 9781108672115
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