Does biology have laws? The experimental evidence
Philosophy of Science 64 (4):457 (1997)
| Abstract | In this paper I argue that we can best make sense of the practice of experimental evolutionary biology if we see it as investigating contingent, rather than lawlike, regularities. This understanding is contrasted with the experimental practice of certain areas of physics. However, this presents a problem for those who accept the Logical Positivist conception of law and its essential role in scientific explanation. I address this problem by arguing that the contingent regularities of evolutionary biology have a limited range of nomic necessity and a limited range of explanatory power even though they lack the unlimited projectibility that has been seen by some as a hallmark of scientific laws. | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,709 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesLindell Bromham (2011). Wandering Drunks and General Lawlessness in Biology: Does Diversity and Complexity Tend to Increase in Evolutionary Systems? Biology and Philosophy 26 (6):915-933.
Not By Me (1983). Historical Laws in Modern Biology. Acta Biotheoretica 32 (3).
Alejandro Rosas (2002). Psychological and Evolutionary Evidence for Altruism. Biology and Philosophy 17 (1):93-107.
Lee Mcintyre (1997). Gould on Laws in Biological Science. Biology and Philosophy 12 (3).
Deborah R. Coen (2006). Living Precisely in Fin-de-Siècle Vienna. Journal of the History of Biology 39 (3):493 - 523.
David Magnus (1996). Heuristics and Biases in Evolutionary Biology. Biology and Philosophy 12 (1).
Marcel Weber (2005). Philosophy of Experimental Biology. Cambridge University Press.
Alex Rosenberg (2001). How is Biological Explanation Possible? British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 52 (4):735-760.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2009-01-28Total downloads53 ( #19,413 of 549,744 )Recent downloads (6 months)1 ( #63,425 of 549,744 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
