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Not by Design: Retiring Darwin's Watchmaker / Edition 1 available in Paperback
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Not by Design: Retiring Darwin's Watchmaker / Edition 1
by John Reiss
John Reiss
- ISBN-10:
- 0520271297
- ISBN-13:
- 9780520271296
- Pub. Date:
- 07/01/2011
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- ISBN-10:
- 0520271297
- ISBN-13:
- 9780520271296
- Pub. Date:
- 07/01/2011
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
![Not by Design: Retiring Darwin's Watchmaker / Edition 1](http://img.images-bn.com/static/redesign/srcs/images/grey-box.png?v11.8.5)
Not by Design: Retiring Darwin's Watchmaker / Edition 1
by John Reiss
John Reiss
Paperback
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Overview
More than two centuries ago, William Paley introduced his famous metaphor of the universe as a watch made by the Creator. For Paley, the exquisite structure of the universe necessitated a designer. Today, some 150 years since Darwin's On the Origin of Species was published, the argument of design is seeing a revival. This provocative work tells how Darwin left the door open for this revivaland at the same time argues for a new conceptual framework that avoids the problematic teleology inherent in Darwin's formulation of natural selection. In a wide-ranging discussion of the historical and philosophical dimensions of evolutionary theory from the ancient Greeks to today, John Reiss argues that we should look to the principle of the conditions for existence, first formulated before On the Origin of Species by the French paleontologist Georges Cuvier, to clarify the relation of adaptation to evolution. Reiss suggests that Cuvier's principle can help resolve persistent issues in evolutionary biology, including the proper definition of natural selection, the distinction between natural selection and genetic drift, and the meaning of genetic load. Moreover, he shows how this principle can help unite diverse areas of biology, ranging from quantitative genetics and the theory of the levels of selection to evo-devo, ecology, physiology, and conservation biology.
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9780520271296 |
---|---|
Publisher: | University of California Press |
Publication date: | 07/01/2011 |
Edition description: | First Edition |
Pages: | 440 |
Product dimensions: | 5.70(w) x 8.70(h) x 1.10(d) |
About the Author
John O. Reiss is Professor of Zoology at Humboldt State University.
Table of Contents
Preface: Beyond the Design MetaphorPART ONE. PROLEGOMENA1. The ProblemTeleology and Natural SelectionA Role for HistoryOverview of the Book (and How to Read It)2. Philosophical BackgroundTeleological Explanation: Intentional, Representational, and ConditionalTeleology and NecessityA Taxonomy of TeleologyThe Principle of the Conditions for ExistenceThe Conditions for Existence and the Weak Anthropic PrincipleNatural Selection and the Argument from DesignThe Conditions for Existence and Evolutionary ExplanationThe Function DebatePART TWO. HOW DID WE GET INTO THIS MESS? FROM SOCRATES AND LUCRETIUS TO CUVIER AND DARWIN3. Design versus the Epicurean Hypothesis:Two Thousand Years of DebateThe Teleologists: Socrates, Plato, and AristotleEmpedocles and the AtomistsThe End of the Classical Era and the Rise of ChristianityThe Scientific Revolution and the Revolt against TeleologyRational Theology and the Argument of Design: The Later Seventeenth CenturyThe Deists, the Platonists, and the Rebirth of Natural TheologyThe Mechanical Philosophy and the Argument of Design:Boyle, Ray, and Newton4. Materialism, Teleology, and Evolution in the EnlightenmentThe Origins of the Enlightenment: BayleThe Philosophes, Materialism, and Lucretius (1744–1750)Buffon, Maupertuis, and the Birth of Evolutionary Theory (1749–1755)The Later Enlightenment: d’Holbach and HumeKant and the German EnlightenmentThe Critical Philosophy5. Cuvier and the Principle of the Conditions for ExistenceBiographical BackgroundCuvier’s Project in the Context of Enlightenment ScienceThe Enunciation of the Principle and Its Place in Cuvier’s SystemThe Philosophical Origins and Significance of the PrincipleThe Influence of the Principle in France and Germany6. Darwin, Natural Theology, and the Principle of Natural SelectionAdaptedness and Existence in British Natural TheologyThe Conditions for Existence Meet Natural TheologyGeology and the Explanation of Life’s HistoryDarwin, Extinction, and EvolutionDarwin and the Conditions for ExistenceWallace and the Conditions for ExistenceDarwin, Wallace, and InheritanceEvolutionary Controversies before the SynthesisPART THREE. EVOLUTION IN MENDELIAN POPULATIONS: TELEOLOGY GETS MATHEMATICAL7. Existence and the Mathematics of Selection:The Adaptive Landscape versus the Fundamental TheoremMendelism, Selection, and the Modern SynthesisRates of Increase in Mendelian PopulationsFitness in Population GeneticsIroning Out Wright’s “Surface of Selective Value”The Genesis of Wright’s SurfaceFisher and the Fundamental TheoremWhat Is Selected?Fisher’s Geometrical Model of AdaptednessThe Reemergence of the Adaptive Landscape8. Population Growth, Genetic Load, and the Limits of SelectionVariance in Rate of Increase: The Opportunity for Selection(and Drift) in Natural PopulationsStandardized Variance versus Population Growth: DataStandardized Variance versus Population Growth: Mathematical ConsiderationsGenetic Load: The Dark Side of Natural SelectionLimits to Selection and the Standardized Variance in Rate of IncreaseGenetic Load and Genetic Deaths The Measurement of Total Selection in Existing Populations Population Growth, Selection, and Standardized Variance Partitioning the Variance in Rate of Increase across the Life Cycle9. Natural Selection and Genetic Drift:Their Role in Evolutionary Change What’s Really Going On?Model PopulationsThe Hagedoorns, Fisher, and the Origins of Genetic Drift The “Sewall Wright Effect” Drift and the Neutral Theory of Molecular Evolution Molecular Tests of Drift and SelectionProblems in Paradise Drift and Mutation Pressure in Phenotypic EvolutionPART FOUR. THE CONDITIONS FOR EXISTENCE AND EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY 10. Adaptedness, Natural Selection, and the Conditions for Existence Adaptation versus Adaptedness Adaptedness of What? Adaptedness, Adaptation, Function, and Natural Selection:How Are They Related? Empirical Studies of Evolution: Bacteria, Peppered Moths,and Darwin’s Finches 11. How to Talk about MacroevolutionThe Explanatory Role of Natural Selection: The Mechanism and the Principle Teleology and the Terminology of Selection Constraints: By What and on What?The Conditions for Existence in Macroevolutionary Explanation:The Origin of Bird Flight 12. The Conditions for Existence as a Unifying Conceptin Evolutionary Biology Quantitative Genetics and the Conditions for ExistenceLevels of Selection and the Conditions for ExistenceEvo-Devo and the Conditions for Existence The Ecological Niche and the Conditions for Existence Physiology and the Conditions for Existence Conservation Biology, Genetic Load, and the Conditions for Existence CONCLUSION Epilogue: Evolutionary Biology and Intelligent Design Glossary References IndexWhat People are Saying About This
From the Publisher
"An important book that should be widely read and discussed."American Scientist
"An engaging read and is sure to stimulate much-needed discussion about the details of current evolutionary concepts."
Integrative & Comparative Bio (Sicb)
"Well documented."Biological Conservation
"[This book] offers a rare synthesis of insights from quite diverse fields."Metapsychology Online Review
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