Drift: A historical and conceptual overview

Biological Theory 2 (2):156-167 (2007)
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Abstract

There are several different ways in which chance affects evolutionary change. That all of these processes are called “random genetic drift” is in part a due to common elements across these different processes, but is also a product of historical borrowing of models and language across different levels of organization in the biological hierarchy. A history of the concept of drift will reveal the variety of contexts in which drift has played an explanatory role in biology, and will shed light on some of the philosophical controversy surrounding whether drift is a cause of evolutionary change.

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Anya Plutynski
Washington University in St. Louis

References found in this work

The origin of species.Charles Darwin - 1859 - New York: Norton. Edited by Philip Appleman.
Animal Species and Evolution.Ernst Mayr - 1963 - Belknap of Harvard University Press.
The Nature of Selection: Evolutionary Theory in Philosophical Focus.Elliott Sober - 1987 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 38 (3):397-399.

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