Making Sense of Evolution – The Conceptual Foundations of Evolutionary Biology - Hardcover

Pigliucci, Massimo; Kaplan, Jonathan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0226668363 ISBN 13: 9780226668369

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 2006

Synopsis

Making Sense of Evolution explores contemporary evolutionary biology, focusing on the elements of theories―selection, adaptation, and species―that are complex and open to multiple possible interpretations, many of which are incompatible with one another and with other accepted practices in the discipline. Particular experimental methods, for example, may demand one understanding of “selection,” while the application of the same concept to another area of evolutionary biology could necessitate a very different definition.

Spotlighting these conceptual difficulties and presenting alternate theoretical interpretations that alleviate this incompatibility, Massimo Pigliucci and Jonathan Kaplan intertwine scientific and philosophical analysis to produce a coherent picture of evolutionary biology. Innovative and controversial, Making Sense of Evolution encourages further development of the Modern Synthesis and outlines what might be necessary for the continued refinement of this evolving field.

About this title

About the Author

Massimo Pigliucci is associate professor of ecology and evolution at Stony Brook University. Jonathan Kaplan is assistant professor of philosophy at Oregon State University.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0226668363
• ISBN 13: 9780226668369
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 236