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Full-Text Articles in Philosophy of Science
Trees Of History In Systematics And Philology, Robert O’Hara
Trees Of History In Systematics And Philology, Robert O’Hara
Robert J. O’Hara
«The Natural System» is the name given to the underlying arrangement present in the diversity of life. Unlike a classification, which is made up of classes and members, a system or arrangement is an integrated whole made up of connected parts. In the pre-evolutionary period a variety of forms were proposed for the Natural System, including maps, circles, stars, and abstract multidimensional objects. The trees sketched by Darwin in the 1830s should probably be considered the first genuine evolutionary diagrams of the Natural System—the first genuine evolutionary trees. Darwin refined his image of the Natural System in the well-known evolutionary …
Natural Selection And Self-Organization: Dynamical Models As Clues To A New Evolutionary Synthesis, Bruce Weber, David Depew
Natural Selection And Self-Organization: Dynamical Models As Clues To A New Evolutionary Synthesis, Bruce Weber, David Depew
David J Depew
The Darwinian concept of natural selection was conceived within a set of Newtonianbackground assumptions about systems dynamics. Mendelian genetics at first did not sit well with the gradualist assumptions of the Darwinian theory. Eventually, however. Mendelism and Darwinism were fused by reformulating natural selection in statistical terms. This reflected a shift to a more probabilistic set of background assumptions based upon Boltzmannian systems dynamics. Recent developments in molecular genetics and paleontology have put pressure on Darwinism once again. Current work on self-organizing systems may provide a stimulus not only for increased problem solving within the Darwinian tradition, especially with respect …