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This paper offers an account of the relationship between inference and explanation in functional morphology which combines Robert Brandon's theory of adaptation explanation with standard accounts of inference to the best explanation. Inferences of function from structure, it is argued, are inferences to the best adaptation explanation. There are, however, three different approaches to the problem of determining which adaptation explanation is the best. The theory of inference to the best adaptation explanation is then applied to a case study from the history of functional morphology: the case of the crested duckbilled dinosaurs.
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DOI | 10.1016/S1369-8486(99)00043-6 |
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References found in this work BETA
Language, Thought, and Other Biological Categories: New Foundations for Realism.Ruth Garrett Millikan - 1984 - MIT Press.
Inference to the Best Explanation.Peter Lipton - 1991 - London and New York: Routledge/Taylor and Francis Group.
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Citations of this work BETA
Kon-Tiki Experiments.Aaron Novick, Adrian M. Currie, Eden W. McQueen & Nathan L. Brouwer - 2020 - Philosophy of Science 87 (2):213-236.
Variety-of-Evidence Reasoning About the Distant Past: A Case Study in Paleoclimate Reconstruction.Martin Vezér - 2017 - European Journal for Philosophy of Science 7 (2):257-265.
Análisis funcionales Y explicaciones seleccionales en biología. Una crítica de la Concepción etiológica Del concepto de función.Gustavo Caponi - 2010 - Ideas Y Valores 59 (143):51-72.
Philosophical Issues in Recent Paleontology.Derek D. Turner - 2014 - Philosophy Compass 9 (7):494-505.
Misleading Observable Analogues in Paleontology.Derek Turner - 2005 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 36 (1):175-183.
View all 6 citations / Add more citations
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