The Science of the Struggle for Existence

The Science of the Struggle for Existence PDF Author: Gregory J. Cooper
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521804325
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 222

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Book Description
This book is a sustained examination of issues in the philosophy of ecology that have been a source of controversy since the emergence of ecology as an explicit scientific discipline. The controversies revolve around the idea of a balance of nature, the possibility of general ecological knowledge and the role of model-building in ecology. The Science of the Struggle for Existence is also a detailed treatment of these issues that incorporates both a comprehensive investigation of the relevant ecological literature and the development of an explicit theoretical framework in the philosophy of science. It addresses issues in the philosophy of ecology that are of particular importance for the deployment of ecology in the solution of environmental problems. It will have a cross-disciplinary appeal and will interest students and professionals in science, the philosophy of science, and environmental studies as well as policy-makers.

The Science of the Struggle for Existence

The Science of the Struggle for Existence PDF Author: Gregory J. Cooper
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521804325
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 222

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Book Description
This book is a sustained examination of issues in the philosophy of ecology that have been a source of controversy since the emergence of ecology as an explicit scientific discipline. The controversies revolve around the idea of a balance of nature, the possibility of general ecological knowledge and the role of model-building in ecology. The Science of the Struggle for Existence is also a detailed treatment of these issues that incorporates both a comprehensive investigation of the relevant ecological literature and the development of an explicit theoretical framework in the philosophy of science. It addresses issues in the philosophy of ecology that are of particular importance for the deployment of ecology in the solution of environmental problems. It will have a cross-disciplinary appeal and will interest students and professionals in science, the philosophy of science, and environmental studies as well as policy-makers.

The Struggle for Existence (Classic Reprint)

The Struggle for Existence (Classic Reprint) PDF Author: G. F. Gause
Publisher: Forgotten Books
ISBN: 9780332079103
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 178

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Book Description
Excerpt from The Struggle for Existence For three-quarters of a century past more has been written about natural selection and the struggle for existence that underlies the selective process, than perhaps about any other single idea in the whole realm of biology. We have seen natural selection laid on its Sterbebett, and subsequently revived again in the most recent times to a remarkable degree of vigor. There can be no doubt that the old idea has great survival value. The odd thing about the case, however, is that during all the years from 1859, when Darwin assembled in the Origin of Species a masterly array of concrete evidence for the reality of the struggle for existence and the process of natural selection, down to the present day, about all that biologists, by and large, have done regarding the idea is to talk and write. If ever an idea cried and begged for experimental testing and development, surely it was this one. Yet the whole array of experimental and statistical attempts in all these years to produce some significant new evidence about the nature and consequences of the struggle for existence is pitifully meager. Such contributions as those of Bumpus, Weldon, Pearson, and Harris are worthy of all praise, but there have been so very, very few of them. And there is surely something comic in the spectacle of laboratories overtly em barking upon the experimental study oi evolution and carefully thereafter avoiding any direct and purposeful attack upon a pertinent problem, the fundamental importance of which Darwin surely estab lished. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Darwin Without Malthus

Darwin Without Malthus PDF Author: Daniel Philip Todes
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0195058305
Category : Biology
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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Book Description
The first book in English to examine in detail the scientific work of 19th-century Russian evolutionists, and the first in any language to explore the relationship of their theories to their economic, political, and natural milieu.

Science, Myth or Magic?

Science, Myth or Magic? PDF Author: Samuel Anthony Barnett
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
ISBN: 1741154103
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 218

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Book Description
Science, Myth or Magic? is an entertaining, no-nonsense look at the place of science in our world. It shows that science can serve both truth and humanity, and act as a worthwhile tool in making sense of our present predicament.

This View of Life

This View of Life PDF Author: David Sloan Wilson
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 1101870214
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
It is widely understood that Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution completely revolutionized the study of biology. Yet, according to David Sloan Wilson, the Darwinian revolution won’t be truly complete until it is applied more broadly—to everything associated with the words “human,” “culture,” and “policy.” In a series of engaging and insightful examples—from the breeding of hens to the timing of cataract surgeries to the organization of an automobile plant—Wilson shows how an evolutionary worldview provides a practical tool kit for understanding not only genetic evolution but also the fast-paced changes that are having an impact on our world and ourselves. What emerges is an incredibly empowering argument: If we can become wise managers of evolutionary processes, we can solve the problems of our age at all scales—from the efficacy of our groups to our well-being as individuals to our stewardship of the planet Earth.

Endless Forms

Endless Forms PDF Author: Diana Donald
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN:
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
A gorgeously illustrated book that is the first to explore the impact of Darwin's ideas about man and nature on 19th-century visual arts Charles Darwin's revolutionary theories of evolution and natural selection have not only had a profound influence on the fields of biology and natural history, but also provided fertile territory for the creative imagination. This lavishly illustrated book accompanies an exhibition organized by the Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge, in association with the Yale Center for British Art, that will coincide with the global celebration of the bicentenary of Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (1859). The essays in this exceptionally wide-ranging book examine both the profound impact that Darwin's ideas had on European and American artists and the ways in which his theories were influenced by the visual traditions he inherited. In works by artists as diverse as Church, Landseer, Liljefors, Heade, Redon, Cézanne, Lear, Tissot, Rossetti, and Monet, from imaginative projections of prehistory to troubled evocations of a life dominated by the struggle for existence, Darwin's sense of the interplay of all living things and his response to the beauties of the natural world proved inspirational. Published in association with the Fitzwilliam Museum and the Yale Center for British Art Exhibition Schedule: Yale Center for British Art (2/12/09 - 5/3/09) Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (6/16/09 - 10/4/09)

One Long Argument

One Long Argument PDF Author: Ernst Mayr
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674639065
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
The great evolutionist Mayr elucidates the subtleties of Darwin’s thought and that of his contemporaries and intellectual heirs—A. R. Wallace, T. H. Huxley, August Weisman, Asa Gray. Mayr has achieved a remarkable distillation of Darwin’s scientific thought and his legacy to twentieth-century biology.

Where the Conflict Really Lies

Where the Conflict Really Lies PDF Author: Alvin Plantinga
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199812101
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 376

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Book Description
In this long-awaited book, pre-eminent analytical philosopher Alvin Plantinga argues that the conflict between science and theistic religion is actually superficial, and that at a deeper level they are in concord.

Beyond Versus

Beyond Versus PDF Author: James Tabery
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262549603
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 295

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Book Description
Why the “nature versus nurture” debate persists despite widespread recognition that human traits arise from the interaction of nature and nurture. If everyone now agrees that human traits arise not from nature or nurture but from the interaction of nature and nurture, why does the “nature versus nurture” debate persist? In Beyond Versus, James Tabery argues that the persistence stems from a century-long struggle to understand the interaction of nature and nurture—a struggle to define what the interaction of nature and nurture is, how it should be investigated, and what counts as evidence for it. Tabery examines past episodes in the nature versus nurture debates, offers a contemporary philosophical perspective on them, and considers the future of research on the interaction of nature and nurture. From the eugenics controversy of the 1930s and the race and IQ controversy of the 1970s to the twenty-first-century debate over the causes of depression, Tabery argues, the polarization in these discussions can be attributed to what he calls an “explanatory divide”—a disagreement over how explanation works in science, which in turn has created two very different concepts of interaction. Drawing on recent developments in the philosophy of science, Tabery offers a way to bridge this explanatory divide and these different concepts integratively. Looking to the future, Tabery evaluates the ethical issues that surround genetic testing for genes implicated in interactions of nature and nurture, pointing to what the future does (and does not) hold for a science that continues to make headlines and raise controversy.

Nietzsche, Biology and Metaphor

Nietzsche, Biology and Metaphor PDF Author: Gregory Moore
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521812306
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 238

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Book Description
This study explores the German philosopher's response to the intellectual debates sparked by the publication of Charles Darwin's Origin of Species. By examining the abundance of biological metaphors in Nietzsche's writings, Gregory Moore questions his recent reputation as an eminently subversive and post modern thinker. The book analyzes key themes of Nietzsche's thought--his critique of morality, his philosophy of art and the Übermensch--in the light of the theory of evolution, the nineteenth-century sense of decadence and the rise of anti-Semitism.