Science and Selection

Science and Selection PDF Author: David L. Hull
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521644051
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
One way to understand science is as a selection process. David Hull, one of the dominant figures in contemporary philosophy of science, sets out in this 2001 volume a general analysis of this selection process that applies equally to biological evolution, the reaction of the immune system to antigens, operant learning, and social and conceptual change in science. Hull aims to distinguish between those characteristics that are contingent features of selection and those that are essential. Science and Selection brings together many of David Hull's most important essays on selection (some never before published) in one accessible volume.

Science and Selection

Science and Selection PDF Author: David L. Hull
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521644051
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
One way to understand science is as a selection process. David Hull, one of the dominant figures in contemporary philosophy of science, sets out in this 2001 volume a general analysis of this selection process that applies equally to biological evolution, the reaction of the immune system to antigens, operant learning, and social and conceptual change in science. Hull aims to distinguish between those characteristics that are contingent features of selection and those that are essential. Science and Selection brings together many of David Hull's most important essays on selection (some never before published) in one accessible volume.

Beyond Natural Selection

Beyond Natural Selection PDF Author: Robert G. Wesson
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262731027
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 382

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Book Description
proposes an approach to evolution that is more in harmony with modern science than Darwinism or neo-Darwinism

Anthropic Bias

Anthropic Bias PDF Author: Nick Bostrom
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 113671099X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
Anthropic Bias explores how to reason when you suspect that your evidence is biased by "observation selection effects"--that is, evidence that has been filtered by the precondition that there be some suitably positioned observer to "have" the evidence. This conundrum--sometimes alluded to as "the anthropic principle," "self-locating belief," or "indexical information"--turns out to be a surprisingly perplexing and intellectually stimulating challenge, one abounding with important implications for many areas in science and philosophy. There are the philosophical thought experiments and paradoxes: the Doomsday Argument; Sleeping Beauty; the Presumptuous Philosopher; Adam & Eve; the Absent-Minded Driver; the Shooting Room. And there are the applications in contemporary science: cosmology ("How many universes are there?", "Why does the universe appear fine-tuned for life?"); evolutionary theory ("How improbable was the evolution of intelligent life on our planet?"); the problem of time's arrow ("Can it be given a thermodynamic explanation?"); quantum physics ("How can the many-worlds theory be tested?"); game-theory problems with imperfect recall ("How to model them?"); even traffic analysis ("Why is the 'next lane' faster?"). Anthropic Bias argues that the same principles are at work across all these domains. And it offers a synthesis: a mathematically explicit theory of observation selection effects that attempts to meet scientific needs while steering clear of philosophical paradox.

Darwin and the Making of Sexual Selection

Darwin and the Making of Sexual Selection PDF Author: Evelleen Richards
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022643690X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 704

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Book Description
Sexual selection, or the struggle for mates, was of considerable strategic importance to Darwin s theory of evolution as he first outlined it in the "Origin of Species," and later, in the "Descent of Man," it took on a much wider role. There, Darwin s exhaustive elaboration of sexual selection throughout the animal kingdom was directed to substantiating his view that human racial and sexual differences, not just physical differences but certain mental and moral differences, had evolved primarily through the action of sexual selection. It was the culmination of a lifetime of intellectual effort and commitment. Yet even though he argued its validity with a great array of critics, sexual selection went into abeyance with Darwin s death, not to be revived until late in the twentieth century, and even today it remains a controversial theory. In unfurling the history of sexual selection, Evelleen Richards brings to vivid life Darwin the man, not the myth, and the social and intellectual roots of his theory building."

Adaptation and Natural Selection

Adaptation and Natural Selection PDF Author: George Christopher Williams
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691185506
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 335

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Book Description
Biological evolution is a fact—but the many conflicting theories of evolution remain controversial even today. When Adaptation and Natural Selection was first published in 1966, it struck a powerful blow against those who argued for the concept of group selection—the idea that evolution acts to select entire species rather than individuals. Williams’s famous work in favor of simple Darwinism over group selection has become a classic of science literature, valued for its thorough and convincing argument and its relevance to many fields outside of biology. Now with a new foreword by Richard Dawkins, Adaptation and Natural Selection is an essential text for understanding the nature of scientific debate.

Divine Action and Natural Selection

Divine Action and Natural Selection PDF Author: Joseph Seckbach
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 9812834338
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 1122

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Book Description
The debate between divine action, or faith, and natural selection, or science, is garnering tremendous interest. This book ventures well beyond the usual, contrasting American Protestant and atheistic points of view, and also includes the perspectives of Jews, Muslims, and Roman Catholics. It contains arguments from the various proponents of intelligent design, creationism, and Darwinism, and also covers the sensitive issue of how to incorporate evolution into the secondary school biology curriculum. Comprising contributions from prominent, award-winning authors, the book also contains dialogs following each chapter to provide extra stimulus to the readers and a full picture of this ?hot? topic, which delves into the fundamentals of science and religion.

Materials and Design

Materials and Design PDF Author: Michael F. Ashby
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0080949401
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 342

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Book Description
Materials and Design: The Art and Science of Material Selection in Product Design, Second Edition, discusses the role of materials and processes in product design. The book focuses on the materials that designers need, as well as on how and why they use them. The book's 10 chapters cover topics such as function and personality, factors influencing product design, the design process, materials selection, and case studies in materials and design. Appendices for each chapter provide exercises for readers, along with detailed charts of technical attributes of different materials for reference. This book will be particularly useful to both students and working designers. Students are introduced to the role of materials in manufacturing and design, with the help of familiar language and concepts. Working designers can use the book as a reference source for materials and manufacturing. - The best guide ever published on the on the role of materials, past and present, in product development, by noted materials authority Mike Ashby and professional designer Kara Johnson--now with even better photos and drawings on the Design Process - Significant new section on the use of re-cycled materials in products, and the importance of sustainable design for manufactured goods and services - Enhanced materials profiles, with addition of new materials types like nanomaterials, advanced plastics and bio-based materials

Selection Theory and Social Construction

Selection Theory and Social Construction PDF Author: Cecilia Heyes
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 9780791450567
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 212

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Book Description
Top scholars examine the work of Donald T. Campbell, one of the first to emphasize the social structure of science.

Murderous Science

Murderous Science PDF Author: Benno Müller-Hill
Publisher: CSHL Press
ISBN: 9780879695316
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
The Human Genome Project has associated many mutant genes with physical ailments and the genetic basis of certain behavioral characteristics is being seriously discussed. In the 1920s and 1930s, advocates for eugenics claimed that genes influenced human behavior, but with no valid evidence. In Germany the Nazis adopted their ideas to justify violent anti-semitism. In this new, expanded edition of the English translation of his compelling book Todliche Wissenschaft,the distinguished German geneticist Benno Muller-Hill documents the long-suppressed collusion of eugenics and racist politics which resulted in the mass murder of millions. In a new Afterword, he warns against the misuse today of newly emerging knowledge about human heredity. In an accompanying essay, Nobel Laureate James D. Watson, an architect of this new era of genetics, vividly describes a recent visit to Berlin and his impressions of the legacy of eugenics in German science.

Materials Selection in Mechanical Design

Materials Selection in Mechanical Design PDF Author: M. F. Ashby
Publisher: Pergamon
ISBN: 9780750627276
Category : Engineering design
Languages : en
Pages : 311

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Book Description
New materials enable advances in engineering design. This book describes a procedure for material selection in mechanical design, allowing the most suitable materials for a given application to be identified from the full range of materials and section shapes available. A novel approach is adopted not found elsewhere. Materials are introduced through their properties; materials selection charts (a new development) capture the important features of all materials, allowing rapid retrieval of information and application of selection techniques. Merit indices, combined with charts, allow optimisation of the materials selection process. Sources of material property data are reviewed and approaches to their use are given. Material processing and its influence on the design are discussed. The book closes with chapters on aesthetics and industrial design. Case studies are developed as a method of illustrating the procedure and as a way of developing the ideas further.