Strategies of Model Building in Population Genetics
Philosophy of Science 73 (5):755-764 (2006)
| Abstract | In 1966, Richard Levins argued that there are different strategies in model building in population biology. In this paper, I reply to Orzack and Sober's (1993) critiques of Levins and argue that his views on modeling strategies apply also in the context of evolutionary genetics. In particular, I argue that there are different ways in which models are used to ask and answer questions about the dynamics of evolutionary change, prospectively and retrospectively, in classical versus molecular evolutionary genetics. Further, I argue that robustness analysis is a tool for, if not confirmation, then something near enough, in this discipline | |||||||||
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Massimo Pigliucci (2008). The Proper Role of Population Genetics in Modern Evolutionary Theory. Biological Theory 3 (4):316-324.
Anya Plutynski (2004). Explanation in Classical Population Genetics. Philosophy of Science 71 (5):1201-1214.
Peter Gildenhuys (2011). Righteous Modeling: The Competence of Classical Population Genetics. Biology and Philosophy 26 (6):813-835.
John Matthewson (2011). Trade-Offs in Model-Building: A More Target-Oriented Approach. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 42 (2):324-333.
Roberta L. Millstein & Robert A. Skipper (2007). Population Genetics. In David L. Hull & Michael Ruse (eds.), The Cambridge Companion to the Philosophy of Biology. Cambridge University Press.
Jay Odenbaugh (2006). The Strategy of “the Strategy of Model Building in Population Biology”. Biology and Philosophy 21 (5):607-621.
Michael Weisberg (2006). Forty Years of 'the Strategy': Levins on Model Building and Idealization. Biology and Philosophy 21 (5):623-645.
Jay Odenbaugh (2003). Complex Systems, Trade‐Offs, and Theoretical Population Biology: Richard Levin's “Strategy of Model Building in Population Biology” Revisited. Philosophy of Science 70 (5):1496-1507.
Jay Odenbaugh (2003). Complex Systems, Trade-Offs, and Theoretical Population Biology: Richard Levin's "Strategy of Model Building in Population Biology" Revisited. Philosophy of Science 70 (5):1496-1507.
Anya Plutynski (2006). Strategies of Model Building in Population Genetics. Philosophy of Science 73 (5):755-764.
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