Millstein, Roberta L. (2000) Is the Evolutionary Process Deterministic or Indeterministic? An Argument for Agnosticism. UNSPECIFIED.
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Abstract
Recently, philosophers of biology have debated the status of the evolutionary process: is it deterministic or indeterministic? I argue that there is insufficient reason to favor one side of the debate over the other, and that a more philosophically defensible position argues neither for the determinacy nor for the indeterminacy of the evolutionary process. In other words, I maintain that the appropriate stand to take towards the question of the determinism of the evolutionary process is agnosticism. I then suggest that an examination of the phenomenon of developmental noise might yield a solution to the problem.
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Item Type: | Other | ||||||
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Additional Information: | Presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association Vancouver, Canada, November 2000 | ||||||
Keywords: | determinism, indeterminism, evolution, probability | ||||||
Subjects: | Specific Sciences > Biology > Evolutionary Theory General Issues > Determinism/Indeterminism |
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Depositing User: | Dr. Roberta L. Millstein | ||||||
Date Deposited: | 01 Apr 2009 | ||||||
Last Modified: | 07 Oct 2010 15:17 | ||||||
Item ID: | 4544 | ||||||
Subjects: | Specific Sciences > Biology > Evolutionary Theory General Issues > Determinism/Indeterminism |
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Date: | 2000 | ||||||
URI: | https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/4544 |
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