The nature of selection : evolutionary theory in philosophical focus / Elliott Sober.

By:

Sober, Elliott

Material type: Text

TextPublisher: Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 1993Description: 1 online resource (x, 383 pages) : illustrationsContent type:

text

Media type:

computer

Carrier type:

online resource

ISBN:

9780226308883
022630888X

Subject(s): Genre/Form:

Electronic books.

Additional physical formats: Print version:: Nature of selectionDDC classification:

501 22

LOC classification:

Q175 .S6392 1993eb

Other classification:

42.02
CC 6300
CC 3700
WH 2100

Online resources:

Click here to access online

Contents:

Acknowledgments; Introduction; PART I: Fitness, Selection, Adaptation; Chapter 1: Evolutionary Theory as a Theory of Forces; 1.1. The Prehistory of a Concept; 1.2. History and Theory; 1.3. Zero-Force States; 1.4. Darwinian Fitness; 1.5. Source Laws and Supervenience; Chapter 2: The Tautology Problem; 2.1. A Good Tautology Is Hard to Find; 2.2. A Little A Priori Truth Never Hurt Anyone; Chapter 3: Survival, Reproduction, Causation; 3.1. Fitness Is Causally Inert; 3.2. Selection Of and Selection For; Chapter 4: Chance; 4.1. The Randomness of Mutation.

4.2. Deterministic and Stochastic Processes4.3. What Laplace's Demon Would Be Missing; Chapter 5: Explanation; 5.1. Explanation and Prediction; 5.2. Variational and Developmental Explanation; 5.3. Population Thinking and Essentialism; Chapter 6: Adaptation; 6.1. Selection and Improvement; 6.2. Retrospect and Prospect; PART II: The Group Above and the Gene Below; Chapter 7: Beginnings; 7.1. Historical Background; 7.2. Transitivity and Context Dependence; 7.3. Parsimony; 7.4. Representability; 7.5. The Unit of Replication; 7.6. Adaptation and Artifact; 7.7. Group Selection without Altruism.

7.8. The Analysis of VarianceChapter 8: Causality; 8.1. Object and Property; 8.2. Coronaries and Correlations; 8.3. Fine-Tuning; Chapter 9: Consequences; 9.1. The Selfish Gene or the Artifactual Allele?; 9.2. Group Selection in Focus; 9.3. Altruism and Averaging; 9.4. Species Selection; References; Index.

Summary: The Nature of Selection is a straightforward, self-contained introduction to philosophical and biological problems in evolutionary theory. It presents a powerful analysis of the evolutionary concepts of natural selection, fitness, and adaptation and clarifies controversial issues concerning altruism, group selection, and the idea that organisms are survival machines built for the good of the genes that inhabit them.""Sober's is the answering philosophical voice, the voice of a first-rate philosopher and a knowledgeable student of contemporary evolutionary theory. His book merits broad attentio

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Item type	Home library	Collection	Call number	Materials specified	Status	Date due	Barcode
Electronic-Books	OPJGU Sonepat- Campus	E-Books EBSCO			Available

Originally published: Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, 1984.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 369-378) and index.

Print version record.

The Nature of Selection is a straightforward, self-contained introduction to philosophical and biological problems in evolutionary theory. It presents a powerful analysis of the evolutionary concepts of natural selection, fitness, and adaptation and clarifies controversial issues concerning altruism, group selection, and the idea that organisms are survival machines built for the good of the genes that inhabit them.""Sober's is the answering philosophical voice, the voice of a first-rate philosopher and a knowledgeable student of contemporary evolutionary theory. His book merits broad attentio

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