Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-tn8tq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-25T16:46:55.906Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Can Darwinian Inheritance Be Extended from Biology to Epistemology?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2022

Carla E. Kary
Carla E. Kary*
Affiliation:
The University of Illinois at Chicago Circle
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Despite continuing controversy over the detailed structure of the biological theory of evolution, and the scientific credentials of some of its central principles (see Goudge (1961), Peters (1976), Smart (1963), Williams (1970)), its striking success in explaining the development of living things has frequently inspired attempts to apply it beyond the biological domain (for example, Mach (1910) and White (1949)). Recently attempts have been made to explain the historical development of human concepts and ideas in terms of a Darwinian evolutionary theory. Various theories of “evolutionary epistemology” have been proposed by Stephen Toulmin (1972), Donald Campbell (1974), and Nicholas Rescher (1977), to name a few. In order to assess these theories adequately it would be useful to know in a general fashion under what circumstances and in what form’ a Darwinian evolutionary theory should be employed within non-biological domains.

Type
Part VIII. Levels of Explanation in Biology
Information
PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association , Volume 1982 , Issue 1: Volume One: Contributed Papers 1982 , 1982 , pp. 356 - 369
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 1982

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Brandon, Richard. (1978). “Adaptation and Evolutionary Theory.” Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science 9: 181—206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, Donald. (1974). “Evolutionary Epistemology.” In The Philosophy of Karl Popper, Volume I. Edited by Schilpp, Paul. Illinois: Open Court Press. Pages 413–463.Google Scholar
Cole, L.C. (1960). “Competitive Exclusion.” Science 132: 348–349.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goudge, Thomas. (1961). The Ascent of Life. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Hull, David. (1978). “A Matter of Individuality.” Philosophy of Science 45: 335–360.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewontin, Richard. (1970). “The Units of Selection.” The Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 1: 1–18.10.1146/annurev.es.01.110170.000245CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mach, Ernst. (1910). “Die Leitgedanken meiner naturwissenschaftlichen Erkenntnislehre und ihre Aufnahme durch die Zeitgenossen.” Physikalische Zeitschrift 11: 599–606. (As reprinted as “My Scientific Theory of Knowledge and its Reception by my Contemporaries.” (trans.) A. Toulmin. In Physical Reality. Edited by Stephen Toulmin. New York: Harper and Row, 1970. Pages 30-31.)Google Scholar
Peters, R.H. (1976). “Tautology in Evolution and Ecology.” The American Naturalist 110: 1—12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rescher, Nicholas. (1977). Methodological Pragmatism. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar
Ruse, Michael. (1973). The Philosophy of Biology. London: Hutchinson University Library.Google Scholar
Smart, J.J.C. (1963). Philosophy and Scientific Realism. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Toulmin, Stephen. (1961). Foresight and Understanding. Indiana: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Toulmin, Stephen. (1967). “The Evolutionary Development of Natural Science.” American Scientist 55: 456–471.Google ScholarPubMed
Toulmin, Stephen. (1972). Human Understandingr. Volume I Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Vrba, Elizabeth. (1980). “Evolution, Species and Fossils: How Does Life Evolve.” South African Journal of Science 76: 61–84.Google Scholar
White, Leslie. (1949). The Science of Culture. New York: Grove Press.Google Scholar
Williams, Mary. (1970). “Deducing the Consequences of Evolution: A Mathematical Model.” The Journal of Theoretical Biology 29: 343–385.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed