Philosophy Of Biology

A guide to some of the developments that have occurred in the philosophy of biology. Covering such issues as evolutionary theory, creationism, teleology, nature versus nurture and sociobiology, this book provides an overview of the current state of play in this rapidly-changing discipline.

Informationen zum Autor

Elliott Sober is Hans Reichenbach Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He is editor of "Conceptual Issues in Evolutionary Biology: An Anthology" and author of "The Nature of Selection: Evolutionary Theory in Philosophical Focus," as well as many papers on the philosophy of science and of biology. In 1991 he was awarded the Lakatos Award for an outstanding contribution to the philosophy of science for his book "Reconstructing the Past: Parsimony, Evolution, and Interference."

Zusammenfassung
A guide to some of the developments that have occurred in the philosophy of biology. Covering such issues as evolutionary theory, creationism, teleology, nature versus nurture and sociobiology, this book provides an overview of the current state of play in this rapidly-changing discipline.

Autorentext

Elliott Sober

Klappentext

Perhaps because of it implications for our understanding of human nature, recent philosophy of biology has seen what might be the most dramatic work in the philosophies of the ?special? sciences. This drama has centered on evolutionary theory, and in the second edition of this textbook, Elliott Sober introduces the reader to the most important issues of these developments. With a rare combination of technical sophistication and clarity of expression, Sober engages both the higher level of theory and the direct implications for such controversial issues as creationism, teleology, nature versus nurture, and sociobiology. Above all, the reader will gain from this book a firm grasp of the structure of evolutionary theory, the evidence for it, and the scope of its explanatory significance.

Inhalt

• What Is Evolutionary Theory? Creationism Fitness The Units of Selection Problem Adaptionism Systematics Sociobiology and the Extension of Evolutionary Theory