Challenging the Modern Synthesis

Challenging the Modern Synthesis PDF Author: Philippe Huneman
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199377170
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 369

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Book Description
"This volume of original essays surveys recent challenges to the Modern Synthesis theory of evolution that arise from empirical advances in the understanding of evolution since the advent of the 21st century. It presents a spectrum of views by philosophers and biologists on the status and prospects of the Modern Synthesis"--Page 4 of cover.

Challenging the Modern Synthesis

Challenging the Modern Synthesis PDF Author: Philippe Huneman
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199377170
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 369

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Book Description
"This volume of original essays surveys recent challenges to the Modern Synthesis theory of evolution that arise from empirical advances in the understanding of evolution since the advent of the 21st century. It presents a spectrum of views by philosophers and biologists on the status and prospects of the Modern Synthesis"--Page 4 of cover.

The Modern Synthesis

The Modern Synthesis PDF Author: Thomas E. Dickins
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030864227
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 250

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Book Description
This book is about evolutionary theory. It deals with aspects of its history to focus upon explanatory structures at work in the various forms of evolutionary theory - as such this is also a work of philosophy. Its focus lies on recent debates about the Modern Synthesis and what might be lacking in that synthesis. These claims have been most clearly made by those calling for an Extended Evolutionary Synthesis. The author argues that the difference between these two positions is the consequence of two things. First, whether evolution is a considered as solely a population level phenomenon or also a theory of form. Second, the use of information concepts. In this book Darwinian evolution is positioned as a general theory of evolution, a theory that gave evolution a technical meaning as the statistical outcome of variation, competition, and inheritance. The Modern Synthesis (MS) within biology, has a particular focus, a particular architecture to its explanations that renders it a special theory of evolution. After providing a history of Darwinian theory and the MS, recent claims and exhortations for an Extended Evolutionary Synthesis (EES) are examined that see the need for the inclusion of non-genetic modes of inheritance and also developmental processes. Much of this argument is based around claims that the MS adopts a particular view of information that has privileged the gene as an instructional unit in the emergence of form. The author analyses the uses of information and claims that neither side of the debate explicitly and formally deals with this concept. A more formal view of information is provided which challenges the EES claims about the role of genes in MS explanations of form whilst being consilient with their own interests in developmental biology. It is concluded that the MS implicitly assumed this formal view of information whilst using information terms in a colloquial manner. In the final chapter the idea that the MS is an informational theory that acts to corral more specific phenomenal accounts, is mooted. As such the book argues for a constrained pluralism within biology, where the MS describes those constraints.

The Evolutionary Synthesis

The Evolutionary Synthesis PDF Author: Ernst Mayr
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674272262
Category : Biology
Languages : en
Pages : 524

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Book Description
Biology was forged into a single, coherent science only within living memory. In this volume the thinkers responsible for the "modern synthesis" of evolutionary biology and genetics come together to analyze that remarkable event. In a new Preface, Ernst Mayr calls attention to the fact that scientists in different biological disciplines varied considerably in their degree of acceptance of Darwin's theories. Mayr shows us that these differences were played out in four separate periods: 1859 to 1899, 1900 to 1915, 1916 to 1936, and 1937 to 1947. He thus enables us to understand fully why the synthesis was necessary and why Darwin's original theory--that evolutionary change is due to the combination of variation and selection--is as solid at the end of the twentieth century as it was in 1859.

Evolution

Evolution PDF Author: Julian Huxley
Publisher: Allen & Unwin Australia
ISBN:
Category : Biological Evolution
Languages : en
Pages : 780

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Book Description


Climate Change Science: A Modern Synthesis

Climate Change Science: A Modern Synthesis PDF Author: G. Thomas Farmer
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9400757573
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 567

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Book Description
An introduction to the principles of climate change science with an emphasis on the empirical evidence for climate change and a warming world. Additional readings are given at the end of each chapter. A list of "Things to Know" opens each chapter. Chapters are arranged so that the student is first introduced to the scientific method(s), examples of the use of the scientific method from other sciences drawn from the history of science with an emphasis on climate science. Climate science is treated in each chapter based on the premise of global warming. Chapter treatments on the atmosphere. biosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and anthroposphere and their inter-relationships are given.

A Critique of the Theory of Evolution

A Critique of the Theory of Evolution PDF Author: Thomas Hunt Morgan
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
A Critique of the Theory of Evolution by Louis Clark Vanuxem Foundation, first published in 1916, is a rare manuscript, the original residing in one of the great libraries of the world. This book is a reproduction of that original, which has been scanned and cleaned by state-of-the-art publishing tools for better readability and enhanced appreciation. Restoration Editors' mission is to bring long out of print manuscripts back to life. Some smudges, annotations or unclear text may still exist, due to permanent damage to the original work. We believe the literary significance of the text justifies offering this reproduction, allowing a new generation to appreciate it.

Reconstructing Human Origins

Reconstructing Human Origins PDF Author: Glenn C. Conroy
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393912892
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 8

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Book Description
Reconstructing Human Origins is the most authoritative, comprehensive, and popular paleoanthropology textbook available. Respected anthropologists Glenn Conroy and new coauthor Herman Pontzer use clear writing and abundant, carefully chosen illustrations to illuminate key concepts and help students get the most out of the course. This definitive paleoanthropology text has been fully revised to keep pace with all of the exciting recent developments in the field.

Biology of Termites: a Modern Synthesis

Biology of Termites: a Modern Synthesis PDF Author: David Edward Bignell
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9048139775
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 576

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Book Description
Biology of Termites, a Modern Synthesis brings together the major advances in termite biology, phylogenetics, social evolution and biogeography. In this new volume, David Bignell, Yves Roisin and Nathan Lo have brought together leading experts on termite taxonomy, behaviour, genetics, caste differentiation, physiology, microbiology, mound architecture, biogeography and control. Very strong evolutionary and developmental themes run through the individual chapters, fed by new data streams from molecular sequencing, and for the first time it is possible to compare the social organisation of termites with that of the social Hymenoptera, focusing on caste determination, population genetics, cooperative behaviour, nest hygiene and symbioses with microorganisms. New chapters have been added on termite pheromones, termites as pests of agriculture and on destructive invasive species.

Organisms, Agency, and Evolution

Organisms, Agency, and Evolution PDF Author: D. M. Walsh
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107122104
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 295

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Book Description
This book argues that evolution arises from the activities of organisms as agents, not from the replication of genes.

The Evolution of Darwinism

The Evolution of Darwinism PDF Author: Timothy Shanahan
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521541985
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 354

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Book Description
This 2004 book focuses on three issues of debate in Darwin's theory of evolution using a historical and philosophical perspective.