Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-wp2c8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-16T06:01:43.534Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Modeling Evolution in Theory and Practice

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Anya Plutynski
Anya Plutynski*
Affiliation:
University of Pennsylvania
*
†Send requests for reprints to the author, Department of Philosophy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104; email: plutynski@earthlink.net.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper uses a number of examples of diverse types and functions of models in evolutionary biology to argue that the demarcation between theory and practice, or “theory model” and “data model,” is often difficult to make. It is shown how both mathematical and laboratory models function as plausibility arguments, existence proofs, and refutations in the investigation of questions about the pattern and process of evolutionary history. I consider the consequences of this for the semantic approach to theories and theory confirmation. The paper attempts to reconcile the insights of both critics and advocates of the semantic approach to theories.

Type
Philosophy of Biology and Cognition
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 68 , Issue S3: No. 3 Supplement: Proceedings of the 2000 Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association. Part I: Contributed Papers Sep., 2001 , 2001 , pp. S225 - S236
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 2001

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

‡

I would like to thank Dr. Gary Hatfield, Dr. Paul Sniegowski, Dr. Warren Ewens, Dr. David Magnus, and an anonymous reviewer for commenting on earlier drafts of this paper.

References

Barton, C. and Charlesworth, B. (1984), “Genetic Revolutions, Founder Effects, and Speciation”. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 15:133–164.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beatty, John (1981), “What's Wrong with the Received View of Evolutionary Theory?”, in Asquith, P. and Giere, Ronald (eds.), PSA 1980, Vol. 2. East Lansing, MI: Philosophy of Science Association.Google Scholar
Brandon, Robert (1990), Adaptation and Environment. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Cartwright, Nancy (1999), The Dappled World: A Study of the Boundaries of Science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Downes, S. (1992), “The Importance of Models in Theorizing: A Deflationary Semantic View”, PSA 1992, Vol. 1. East Lansing, MI: Philosophy of Science Association, 142–153.Google Scholar
Ereshefsky, M. (1991), “The Semantic Approach to Evolutionary Theory”, Biology and Philosophy 6:59–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fisher, Ronald Aylmer (1918), “The Correlation Between Relatives on the Supposition of Mendelian Inheritance”, Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 52:399–433.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Griesemer, James (1990), “Material Models in Biology”, PSA 1990, Vol. 2. East Lansing, MI: Philosophy of Science Association, 79–83.Google Scholar
Griesemer, James (1991), “Modeling in the Museum: On the Role of Remnant Models in the Work of Joseph Grinnell”, Biology and Philosophy 5:3–36.10.1007/BF02423831CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jordon, David S. and Kellogg, Vernon L. (1907), Evolution and Animal Life. New York: Appleton and Co.Google Scholar
Lenski, R. and Travisano, M. (1994), “Dynamics of adaptation and diversification: A 10,000 generation experiment with bacterial populations”, Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences 91:6808–6814.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lloyd, Elisabeth (1988), The Structure and Confirmation of Evolutionary Theory. Greenwood Press: New York.Google Scholar
Mayr, Ernst (1942), Systematics and the Origin of Species. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Mayr, Ernst (1963), Animal Species and Evolution. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.10.4159/harvard.9780674865327CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mayr, Ernst (1970), Populations. Species, and Evolution. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Morgan, M. and Morrison, M. (eds.) (1999), Models as Mediators: Perspectives on Natural and Social Science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rice, W. and Hostert, E. (1993), “Laboratory Experiments on Speciation: What have we learned in 40 years?”, Evolution 47:1637–53.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rice, W. and Salt, G. (1988), “Speciation via disruptive selection on habitat preference: experimental evidence”, American Naturalist 131:911–917.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sloep, Peter and van der Steen, William J. (1987), “The Nature of Evolutionary Theory: The Semantic Challenge”, Biology and Philosophy 2:1–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar