Natural Selection and the Nature of Statistical Explanations

Contenido principal del artículo

Roger Deulofeu Batllori
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4554-9756

Resumen

Existe una interpretación filosófica aceptada de la selección natural en la teoría evolutiva: la selección natural, junto con la mutación, la migración y la deriva, se consideran fuerzas que impulsan la evolución de las poblaciones. En consecuencia, la selección natural es un proceso causal a nivel de población. Los estadísticos han criticado este enfoque argumentando que la selección natural no es una causa a nivel de población, sino más bien una característica estadística de una población. Este artículo examina la naturaleza del debate ontológico mencionado y la naturaleza de las explicaciones estadísticas proporcionadas por la genética de poblaciones. Sostengo que la síntesis moderna proporciona buenas explicaciones de los cambios en la estructura de rasgos de las poblaciones sin recurrir a información causal detallada.

Descargas

Los datos de descargas todavía no están disponibles.

Detalles del artículo

Cómo citar
Deulofeu Batllori, R. (2023). Natural Selection and the Nature of Statistical Explanations. Crítica. Revista Hispanoamericana De Filosofía, 55(165), 27–52. https://doi.org/10.22201/iifs.18704905e.2023.1465

Métricas de PLUMX

Citas

Ariew, André, 2003, “Ernst Mayr’s ‘Ultimate/Proximate’ Distinction Reconsidered and Reconstructed”, Biology and Philosophy, vol. 18, pp. 553-565.

Ariew, André, Collin Rice, and Yasha Rohwer, 2015, “Autonomous-Statistical Explanations and Natural Selection”, The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, vol. 66, no. 3, pp. 635–658.

Batterman, Robert W., and Collin Rice, 2014, “Minimal Model Explanations”, Philosophy of Science, vol. 81, no. 3,

pp. 349–376.

Beatty, John, 1984, “Chance and Natural Selection”, Philosophy of Science, vol. 51, no. 2, pp. 183–211.

Braillard, Pierre-Alain, and Christophe Malaterre, 2015, “Explanation in Biology: An Introduction”, in Pierre-Alain Braillard and Christophe Malaterre (eds.), Explanation in Biology: An Enquiry into the Diversity of Explanatory Patterns in the Life Sciences, Springer, pp. 1–28.

Brandon, Robert N., 1980, “A Structural Description of Evolutionary Theory”, PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association, pp. 427–439.

Brigandt, Ingo, 2013, “Explanation in Biology: Reduction, Pluralism, and Explanatory Aims”, Science and Education, vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 69–91.

Caponi, Gustavo, 2020, “The Darwinian Naturalization of Teleology”, en Lorenzo Baravalle and Luciana Zaterka (eds.), Life and Evolution.History, Philosophy and Theory of the Life Sciences, vol. 26, Springer, Cham, pp. 121–142, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39589-6_8

Chemero, Anthony, and Michael Silberstein, 2008, “After the Philosophy of Mind: Replacing Scholasticism with Science”, Philosophy of Science, vol. 75, no. 1, pp. 1–27.

Darwin, Charles, 2004, On the Origin of Species, 1859 –The Works of Charles Darwin, Routledge.

Deulofeu, Roger, Javier Suárez, and Alberto Pérez-Cervera, 2021, “Explaining the Behaviour of Random Ecological Networks: The Stability of the Microbiome as a Case of Integrative Pluralism”, Synthese, vol. 198, no. 3, pp. 2003–2025.

Díez, José A., and Pablo Lorenzano, 2013, “Who Got What Wrong? Fodor and Piattelli on Darwin: Guiding Principles and Explanatory Models in Natural Selection”, Erkenntnis, vol. 78, no. 5, pp. 1143–1175.

Glennan, Stuart, 2017, The New Mechanical Philosophy, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Glennan, Stuart and Phyllis Illari (eds.), 2018, The Routledge Handbook of Mechanisms and Mechanical Philosophy, Routledge, Abingdon, UK.

Grene, Marjorie, 1961, “Statistics and Selection”, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, vol. 12, no. 45, pp. 25–42.

Halina, Marta, 2018, “Mechanistic Explanations and Its Limits”, in Stuart Glennan y Phyllis Illari (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Mechanisms and Mechanical Philosophy, Routledge, Abingdon, UK, pp. 213–224.

Hempel, Carl G., 1965, Aspects of Scientific Explanation, Free Press, New York.

Huneman, Philippe, 2018, “Outlines of a Theory of Structural Explanation”, Philosophical Studies, vol. 175, no. 3, pp. 665–702.

Huneman, Philippe, 2010, “Topological Explanations and Robustness in Biological Sciences”, Synthese, vol. 177, no. 2, pp. 213–245.

Jones, Nicholaos, 2014, “Bowtie Structures, Pathway Diagrams, and Topological Explanations”, Erkenntnis, vol. 79, no. 5, pp. 1135–1155.

Kitcher, Philip, 1993, The Advancement of Science: Science without Legend, Objectivity without Illusions, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Kuorikoski, Jaakko, 2007, “Explaining with Equilibria”, in Johannes Persson, and Petri Ylikoski (eds.), Rethinking Explanation, Springer, Dordrecht, pp. 149–162.

Lange, Marc, 2016, Because without Cause: Non-casual Explanations in Science and Mathematics, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Lange, Marc, 2013, “Really Statistical Explanations and Genetic Drift”, Philosophy of Science, vol. 80, no. 2, pp. 169–188.

Lynch, Michael, 2007, The Origins of Genome Architecture, MD: Sinauer, Baltimore.

Machamer, Peter, Lindley Darden, and Carl F. Craver, 2000, “Thinking about Mechanisms”, Philosophy of Science, vol. 67, no. 1, pp. 1–25.

Matthen, Mohan, and André Ariew, 2002, “Two Ways of Thinking about Fitness and Natural Selection”, The Journal of Philosophy, vol. 99, no. 2, pp. 55–83.

Mekios, Constantinos, 2015, “Explanation in Systems Biology: Is It All about Mechanisms?”, in Pierre-Alain Braillard, and Christophe Malaterre (eds.), Explanation in Biology: An Enquiry into the Diversity of Explanatory Patterns in the Life Science, Springer, Dordrecht.

Millstein, Roberta L., 2002, “Are Random Drift and Natural Selection Conceptually Distinct?”, Biology and Philosophy, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 33–53.

Mitchell, Sandra D., 2009, Unsimple Truths: Science, Complexity, and Policy, University of Chicago Press, Illinois.

Mitchell, Sandra D., 2003, Biological Complexity and Integrative Pluralism, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Moreno, Alvaro, and Javier Suárez, 2020, “Plurality of Explanatory Strategies in Biology: Mechanisms and Networks”, in Wenceslao J. Gonzalez (ed.), Methodological Prospects for Scientific Research: From Pragmatism to Pluralism, Springer Cham, pp. 141–165.

Okasha, Samir, 2022, “Population Genetics”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Winter 2022 Edition, Edward N. Zalta and Uri Nodelman (eds.).

https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2022/entries/population-genetics/

Potochnik, Angela, 2015, “Causal Patterns and Adequate Explanations”, Philosophical Studies, vol. 172, no. 5, pp. 1163–1182.

Provine, William B., 1971, The Origins of Theoretical Population Genetics, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

Rosenberg, Alexander, 1994, Instrumental Biology, or the Disunity of Science, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

Shapiro, Lawrence A., and Elliott Sober, 2007, “Epiphenomenalism – the Do’s and the Don’ts”, in G. Wolters and Peter K. Machamer (eds.), Thinking About Causes: From Greek Philosophy to Modern Physics, University of Pittsburgh Press, pp. 235–264. https://philpapers.org/rec/WOLSIC

Sober, Elliott, 1984, The Nature of Selection: Evolutionary Theory in Philosophical Focus, University of Chicago Press, Illinois.

Sober, Elliott, 1983, “Equilibrium Explanation”, Philosophical Studies, vol. 43, no. 2, pp. 201–210.

Suárez, Javier, and Roger Deulofeu, 2019, “Equilibrium Explanation as Structural Non-Mechanistic Explanations”, Teorema: Revista Internacional de Filosofía, vol. 38, no. 3, pp. 95–120.

Wade, Michael, 2021, “Ecological Genetics”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Winter 2021 Edition, Edward N. Zalta (ed.). https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2021/entries/ecological-genetics/

Walsh, Denis M., 2019, “The Paradox of Population Thinking, First Order Causes and Higher Order Effects”, in Tobias Uller and Kevin N. Laland (eds.), Evolutionary Causation, MIT Press.

Walsh, Denis M., 2015, “Variance, Invariance and Statistical Explanation”, Erkenntnis, vol. 80, Suppl. 3, pp. 469–489.

Walsh, Denis M., 2007, “The Pomp of Superfluous Causes: The Interpretation of Evolutionary Theory”, Philosophy of Science, vol. 74, no. 3, pp. 281–303.

Walsh, Denis M., 2003, “Fit and Diversity: Explaining Adaptive Evolution”, Philosophy of Science, vol. 70, no. 2, pp. 280–301.

Walsh, Denis M., 2000, “Chasing Shadows: Natural Selection and Adaptation”, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, vol. 31, no. 1, pp. 135–153.

Walsh, Denis M., Tim Lewens, and André Ariew, 2002, “The Trials of Life: Natural Selection and Random Drift”, Philosophy of Science, vol. 69, no. 3, pp. 452–473.

Walsh, Denis M., André Ariew, and Mohan Matthen, 2017, “Four Pillars of Statisticalism”, Philosophy, Theory and Practice in Biology, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 1–18.

Williams, Mary B., 1973, “The Logical Status of the Theory of Natural Selection and Other Evolutionary Controversies”, in Mario Bunge (ed.), The Methodological Unity of Science, Springer, Dordrecht, pp. 343-385.

Woodward, James, 2003, Making Things Happen: A Theory of Causal Explanation, Oxford University Press, New York.