New Historical and Philosophical Perspectives on Quantitative Genetics

Serpico, Davide and Lynch, Kate E. and Porter, Theodore M. (2022) New Historical and Philosophical Perspectives on Quantitative Genetics. [Preprint]

Text
PREPRINT New perspectives.docx - Accepted Version
Download (34kB)

Preview

Text
PREPRINT New perspectives.pdf
Download (151kB) | Preview

Abstract

The aim of this collection is to bring together philosophical and historical perspectives to address long-standing issues in the interpretation, utility, and impacts of quantitative genetics methods and findings. Methodological approaches and the underlying scientific understanding of genetics and heredity have transformed since the field’s inception. These advances have brought with them new philosophical issues regarding the interpretation and understanding of quantitative genetic results. The contributions in this issue demonstrate that there is still work to be done integrating old and new methodological and conceptual frameworks. In some cases, new results are interpreted using assumptions based on old concepts and methodologies that need to be explicitly recognised and updated. In other cases, new philosophical tools can be employed to synthesise historical quantitative genetics work with modern methodologies and findings. This introductory article surveys three general themes that have dominated philosophical discussion of quantitative genetics throughout history: 1. How methodologies have changed and transformed our knowledge and interpretations; 2. Whether or not quantitative genetics can offer explanations relating to causation and prediction; 3. The importance of defining the phenotypes under study. We situate the contributions in this special issue within a historical framework addressing these three themes.

Export/Citation:

Social Networking:

Share |

Item Type:

Preprint

Creators:

Creators	Email	ORCID
Serpico, Davide	davide.serpico@uj.edu.pl	0000-0003-3997-3056
Lynch, Kate E.	kate.lynch@sydney.edu.au	0000-0001-8800-2323
Porter, Theodore M.	tporter@history.ucla.edu