Evolution, explanation, ethics, and aesthetics : towards a philosophy of biology /

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Ayala, Francisco José, 1934- (Author)
Corporate Author: EBSCOhost
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: London, United Kingdom ; San Diego, CA : Academic Press is an imprint of Elsevier, [2016]
Subjects:
Online Access:Connect to the full text of this electronic book
Table of Contents:
  • Front Cover; Evolution, Explanation, Ethics, and Aesthetics; Evolution, Explanation, Ethics, and Aesthetics; Copyright; Contents; Preface; I
  • Evolution; 1
  • The Darwinian Revolution ; INTRODUCTION; GREEK ANTIQUITY; CHRISTIANITY AND EUROPE UNTIL DARWIN; CHARLES DARWIN; COPERNICUS AND DARWIN; DARWIN'S THEORY; DARWIN AND WALLACE; THE DARWINIAN AFTERMATH; DARWIN AND MENDEL; THE SYNTHETIC THEORY; MOLECULAR BIOLOGY; EARTH SCIENCES, BIOGEOGRAPHY, AND ECOLOGY; THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES; 2
  • Evolution Is a "Fact" ; INTRODUCTION; THE UNIVERSE; BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION; THE "FACT" OF BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION
  • THE FOSSIL RECORDARCHAEOPTERYX AND TIKTAALIK; EXTINCTION; ANATOMICAL SIMILARITIES; EMBRYONIC SIMILARITIES AND VESTIGES; BIOGEOGRAPHY; HAWAII'S BIOLOGICAL CAULDRON; MOLECULAR BIOLOGY; 3. Life's Origin; Introduction; The Unity of Life; Early Life; What Is Life?; Life in the Laboratory?; Heredity; Origins; 4
  • LUCA and the Tree of Life ; INTRODUCTION; TAXONOMY; HOMOLOGY AND ANALOGY; MOLECULAR BIOLOGY; CLADOGENESIS AND ANAGENESIS: EVOLUTIONARY TREES; Distance Methods; Maximum Parsimony Methods; Maximum Likelihood Methods; EVALUATION OF EVOLUTIONARY TREES; THE MOLECULAR CLOCK
  • THE NEUTRALITY THEORY OF MOLECULAR EVOLUTION5
  • Three Grand Challenges of Human Biology ; INTRODUCTION; LIFE TO HUMAN; HUMAN ORIGINS; THE HUMAN GENOME SEQUENCE; BEYOND THE HUMAN GENOME; ONTOGENETIC DECODING; THE BRAIN-MIND PUZZLE; THE APE-TO-HUMAN TRANSFORMATION; BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION VERSUS CULTURAL EVOLUTION; II
  • Explanation; 6
  • Design Without Designer ; INTRODUCTION; THE ARGUMENT FROM DESIGN; EMERGENCE OF MODERN SCIENCE; DARWIN'S DISCOVERY; NATURAL SELECTION AS A "DESIGN" PROCESS; MATHEMATICAL CHALLENGES; DESIGN AND CHANCE; EVIDENCE OF EVOLUTION; DEFECTS, DEFICIENCIES, AND DYSFUNCTIONS
  • POWERS AND LIMITS OF SCIENCE7
  • Adaptation and Novelty: Teleological Explanations in Evolutionary Biology ; INTRODUCTION; TELEOLOGY; TELEOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS: A DEFINITION; TELEOLOGICAL FEATURES AND BEHAVIORS IN ORGANISMS; PROXIMATE VERSUS ULTIMATE TELEOLOGY; NATURAL VERSUS ARTIFICIAL TELEOLOGY; DETERMINATE VERSUS INDETERMINATE TELEOLOGY; OBJECTIONS AND RESPONSES; TELEOLOGY AND CAUSALITY; TELEOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS ARE TESTABLE HYPOTHESES; UTILITY AS TOUCHSTONE CRITERION; TELEOLOGY VERSUS TELEONOMY: CICERO'S TRANSLATION OF ARISTOTLE'S AITION; ERNST MAYR (1998) ON TELEOLOGY
  • 8
  • Evolution and Progress INTRODUCTION; EARLY IDEAS; EVOLUTIONARY PROGRESS; CHANGE, EVOLUTION, DIRECTION; THE CONCEPT OF PROGRESS; EVOLUTIONARY PROGRESS; THE EXPANSION OF LIFE; STANDARDS OF PROGRESS; INFORMATION PROCESSING; CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS; 9
  • The Scientific Method ; INTRODUCTION; BEYOND INDUCTIVISM; SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE; INDUCTION IN SCIENCE; THE HYPOTHETICO-DEDUCTIVE METHOD; THE CRITERION OF DEMARCATION; VERIFIABILITY AND FALSIFIABILITY; EMPIRICAL CONTENT OR "TRUTHFULNESS"; CONTINGENCY AND CERTAINTY; "FACT" AND "THEORY" IN SCIENTIFIC USE; ERROR AND FRAUD IN SCIENCE