Hostname: page-component-7dd5485656-dk7s8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-31T23:50:24.547Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Determinism, Realism, and Probability in Evolutionary Theory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Marcel Weber
Marcel Weber*
Affiliation:
Universität Hannover
*
†Send requests for reprints to the author, Zentrale Einrichtung für Wissenschaftstheorie und Wissenschaftsethik, Universität Hannover, Oeltzenstrasse 9, 30169 Hannover, Germany; email: weber@ww.uni-hannover.de.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Recent discussion of the statistical character of evolutionary theory has centered around two positions: (1) Determinism combined with the claim that the statistical character is eliminable, a subjective interpretation of probability, and instrumentalism; (2) Indeterminism combined with the claim that the statistical character is ineliminable, a propensity interpretation of probability, and realism. I point out some internal problems in these positions and show that the relationship between determinism, eliminability, realism, and the interpretation of probability is more complex than previously assumed in this debate. Furthermore, I take some initial steps towards a more adequate account of the statistical character of evolutionary theory.

Information

Type
Philosophy of Biology and Cognition
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 68 , Issue S3: No. 3 Supplement: Proceedings of the 2000 Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association. Part I: Contributed Papers Sep., 2001 , 2001 , pp. S213 - S224
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 2001

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

Footnotes

‡

I wish to thank Roberta Millstein, Robert Brandon, Elliott Sober, and Paul Hoyningen-Huene for helpful suggestions.

References

Beatty, John (1984), “Chance and Natural Selection”, Philosophy of Science 51:183–211.10.1086/289177CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brandon, Robert N. and Carson, Scott (1996), “The Indeterministic Character of Evolutionary Theory: No ‘No Hidden Variables Proof’ But No Room for Determinism Either”, Philosophy of Science 63:315–337.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giere, Ronald N. (1988), Explaining Science: A Cognitive Approach. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.10.7208/chicago/9780226292038.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Graves, Leslie, Horan, Barbara L., and Rosenberg, Alexander (1999), “Is Indeterminism the Source of the Statistical Character of Evolutionary Theory?”, Philosophy of Science 66:140–157.10.1086/392680CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horan, Barbara L. (1994), “The Statistical Character of Evolutionary Theory”, Philosophy of Science 61:76–95.10.1086/289781CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mackie, John L. (1973), Truth. Probability, and Paradox. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Millstein, Roberta L. (1996), “Random Drift and the Omniscient Viewpoint”, Philosophy of Science 63 (Proceedings): S10–S18.10.1086/289931CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Millstein, Roberta L. (1997), The Chances of Evolution: An Analysis of the Roles of Chance in Microevolution and Macroevolution. Ph.D. Dissertation. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota.Google Scholar
Popper, Karl R. (1959), “The Propensity Interpretation of Probability”, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 10:25–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenberg, Alexander (1994), Instrumental Biology or the Disunity of Science. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Sober, Elliott (1984), The Nature of Selection: Evolutionary Theory in Philosophical Focus. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Sklar, Lawrence (1993), Physics and Chance: Philosophical Issues in the Foundations of Statistical Mechanics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waters, C. Kenneth (1991), “Tempered Realism About the Force of Selection”, Philosophy of Science 58:553–573.10.1086/289640CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weber, Marcel (1996), “Fitness Made Physical: The Supervenience of Biological Concepts Revisited”, Philosophy of Science 63:411–431.CrossRefGoogle Scholar