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This volume explores the philosophical and biological richness of twenty-first-century evolution: its concepts, methods, structure and religious implications.
List of contents
Introduction; 1. Human evolution: the three grand challenges of human biology Francisco Ayala; Part I. Evolution and Theology: 2. Evolutionary theory, causal completeness, and theism - the case of 'guided' mutation Elliott Sober; 3. Religion, truth and progress Philip Kitcher; Part II. Taxonomy and Systematics: 4. Consilience, historicity, and the species problem Marc Ereshefsky; 5. DNA barcoding and taxonomic practice David Castle; Part III. The Structure of Evolutionary Theory: 6. Darwin's theory and the value of mathematical formalisation R. Paul Thompson; 7. Population genetics, economic theory, and eugenics in R. A. Fisher Jean Gayon; 8. Exploring development and evolution on the tangled bank Jane Maienschein and Manfred Laubichler; Part IV. Function, Adaptation and Design: 9. Darwin's cyclopean architect John Beatty; 10. Function and teleology Denis Walsh; 11. How physics fakes design Alex Rosenberg.
About the author
R. Paul Thompson is Professor in the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology and the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto. His most recent books include The Structure of Biological Theories (1989) and Agro-Technology (Cambridge, 2011) and he is editor of Issues in Evolutionary Ethics (1995).Denis Walsh holds the Canada Research Chair in the Philosophy of Biology and is a member of the Department of Philosophy at the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, and the Department for Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto. He is editor of Naturalism, Evolution and Mind (Cambridge, 2001).
Summary
This volume provides contemporary insights into biological evolution, exploring topics such as DNA barcoding, three grand challenges of human evolution, functionalism, historicity, design, evolution and development, and religion and secular humanism. It will be of interest to those studying philosophy of biology and evolutionary biology.
