Darwin's Evolutionary Philosophy: The Laws of Change  

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"Presented on the one hand with this implication of the static species concept and on the other hand with the continuous gradations present in nature, Buffon (1707-1788) became a nominalist". (Hull, 1967: 321-322).


Abstract: "The philosophical or metaphysical architecture of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection is analyzed and discussed. It is argued that natural selection was for Darwin a paradigmatic case of a natural law of change -- an exemplar of what Ghiselin (1969) has called selective retention laws. These selective retention laws lie at the basis of Darwin's revolutionary world view. In this essay special attention is paid to the consequences for Darwin's concept of species of his selective retention laws. Although Darwin himself explicitly supported a variety of nominalism, implicit in the theory of natural selection is a solution to the dispute between nominalism and realism. It is argued that, although implicit, this view plays a very important role in Darwin's theory of natural selection as the means for the origin of species. It is in the context of these selective retention laws and their philosophical implications that Darwin's method is appraised in the light of recent criticisms, and the conclusion drawn that he successfully treated some philosophical problems by approaching them through natural history. Following this an outline of natural selection theory is presented in which all these philosophical issues are highlighted."-- "Darwin's Evolutionary Philosophy: The Laws of Change", Edward S. Reed


"As Darwin himself said to Asa Gray: 'How absurd that logical quibble [of Agassiz's] - "if species do not exist, then how can they vary?" As if anyone doubted their temporary existence' (Francis Darwin, 1888, II: 126)."-- "Darwin's Evolutionary Philosophy: The Laws of Change", Edward S. Reed

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"Darwin's Evolutionary Philosophy: The Laws of Change" is a study by Edward S. Reed.




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