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An Explication of the Causal Dimension of Drift

Gildenhuys, Peter (2008) An Explication of the Causal Dimension of Drift. [Preprint]

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Abstract

Among philosophers, controversy over the notion of drift in population genetics is ongoing. This is at least partly because the notion of drift has an ambiguous usage among population geneticists. My goal in this paper is to explicate the causal dimension of drift, to say what causal influences are responsible for the stochasticity in population genetics models. It is commonplace for population genetics to oppose the influence of selection to that of drift, and to consider how the dynamics of populations are altered when each has greater or lesser influence. I define the causes that are referred to as drift when researchers speak this way.


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Item Type: Preprint
Creators:
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Gildenhuys, Peter
Keywords: drift; selection; evolutionary theory; population genetics; effective population size;
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Biology > Evolutionary Theory
Depositing User: Peter Gildenhuys
Date Deposited: 09 Sep 2008
Last Modified: 07 Oct 2010 15:17
Item ID: 4186
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Biology > Evolutionary Theory
Date: September 2008
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/4186

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