The Philosophy of Biology (Oxford Readings in Philosophy) PDF
Preview The Philosophy of Biology (Oxford Readings in Philosophy)
Page i OXFORD READINGS IN PHILOSOPHY The Philosophy of Biology Page ii Published in this series The Problem of Evil, edited by Marilyn McCord Adams and Robert Merrihew Adams The Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence, edited by Margaret A. Boden The Philosophy of Artificial Life, edited by Margaret A. Boden SelfKnowledge, edited by Quassim Cassam Virtue Ethics, edited by Roger Crisp and Michael Slote Perceptual Knowledge, edited by Jonathan Dancy The Philosophy of Law, edited by R. M. Dworkin Environmental Ethics, edited by Robert Elliot Theories of Ethics, edited by Philippa Foot The Philosophy of History, edited by Patrick Gardiner The Philosophy of Mind, edited by Jonathan Glover Scientific Revolutions, edited by Ian Hacking The Philosophy of Mathematics, edited by W. D. Hart Conditionals, edited by Frank Jackson The Philosophy of Time, edited by Robin Le Poidevin and Murray MacBeath The Philosophy of Action, edited by Alfred R. Mele Properties, edited by D. H. Mellor and Alex Oliver The Philosophy of Religion, edited by Basil Mitchell Meaning and Reference, edited by A. W. Moore A Priori Knowledge, edited by Paul K. Moser The Philosophy of Science, edited by David Papineau Political Philosophy, edited by Anthony Quinton The Philosophy of Social Explanation, edited by Alan Ryan Consequentialism and its Critics, edited by Samuel Scheffler Applied Ethics, edited by Peter Singer Causation, edited by Ernest Sosa and Michael Tooley Theories of Rights, edited by Jeremy Waldron Free Will, edited by Gary Watson Demonstratives, edited by Palle Yourgrau Other volumes are in preparation Page iii The Philosophy of Biology Edited by DAVID L. HULL and MICHAEL RUSE OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 1998 Page iv Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2 6DP Oxford New York Athens Auckland Bangkok Bogota Bombay Buenos Aires Calcutta Cape Town Dar es Salaam Delhi Florence Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madras Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi Paris Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto Warsaw and associated companies in Berlin Ibadan Oxford is a trade mark of Oxford University Press Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York Introduction and selection © Oxford University Press 1998 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press. Within the UK, exceptions are allowed in respect of any fair dealing for the purpose of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of the licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside these terms and in other countries should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data The philosophy of biology / edited by David L. Hull and Michael Ruse. (Oxford readings in philosophy) Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. 1. Biology—Philosophy. L Hull, David L. II. Ruse, Michael III. Series. QH331.P468 1997 570'.1—dc21 9736921 ISBN 019875213X. ISBN 0198752121 (pbk.) 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 Typeset by Bestset Typesetter Ltd., Hong Kong Printed in Great Britain by Biddies Ltd., Guildford and King's Lynn Page v CONTENTS Introduction 1 David L. Hull and Michael Ruse Part I: Adaptation 3 Introduction to Part I 5 Michael Ruse 1 Adaptation: Current Usages 8 Mary Jane WestEberhard 2 Universal Darwinism 15 Richard Dawkins 3 The Leibnizian Paradigm 38 Daniel C. Dennett 4 Exaptation—A Missing Term in the Science of Form 52 Stephen Jay Gould and Elisabeth S. Vrba 5 Six Sayings about Adaptationism 72 Elliott Sober Part II: Development 87 Introduction to Part II 89 David L. Hull 6 Two Concepts of Constraint: Adaptationism and the Challenge from 93 Developmental Biology Ron Amundson 7 Developmental Systems and Evolutionary Explanation 117 P. E. Griffiths and R. D. Gray Page vi PART III: UNITS OF SELECTION 147 Introduction to Part III 149 David L. Hull 8 The Return of the Gene 153 Kim Sterelny and Philip Kitcher 9 The Levels of Selection: A Hierarchy of Interactors 176 Robert N. Brandon 10 A Critical Review of Philosophical Work on the Units of Selection Problem 198 Elliott Sober and David Sloan Wilson Part IV: Function 221 Introduction to Part IV 223 David L. Hull 11 Function without Purpose: The Uses of Causal Role Function in Evolutionary 227 Biology Ron Amundson and George V. Lauder 12 Function and Design 258 Philip Kitcher 13 Functions: Consensus without Unity 280 Peter GodfreySmith Part V: Species 293 Introduction to Part V 295 David L. Hull 14 Individuality, Pluralism, and the Phylogenetic Species Concept 300 Brent D. Mishler and Robert N. Brandon 15 Phylogenetic Systematics and the Species Problem 319 Kevin de Queiroz and Michael J. Donoghue Page vii 16 Eliminative Pluralism 348 Marc Ereshefsky Part VI: Human Nature 369 Introduction to Part VI 371 Michael Ruse 17 Science and Myth 374 John Maynard Smith 18 On Human Nature 383 David L. Hull 19 Gender and Science: Origin, History, and Politics 398 Evelyn Fox Keller 20 Essentialism, Women, and War: Protesting Too Much, Protesting Too Little 414 Susan Oyama 21 Essentialism and Constructionism about Sexual Orientation 427 Edward Stein Part VII: Altruism 443 Introduction to Part VII 445 Michael Ruse 22 Altruism: Theoretical Contexts 448 Alexander Rosenberg 23 What Is Evolutionary Altruism? 459 Elliott Sober 24 On the Relationship between Evolutionary and Psychological Definitions of 479 Altruism and Selfishness David Sloan Wilson Page viii Part VIII: The Human Genome Project 489 Introduction to Part VIII 491 Michael Ruse 25 The Human Genome Project: Towards an Analysis of the Empirical, Ethical, 494 and Conceptual Issues Involved Marga Vicedo 26 Who's Afraid of the Human Genome Project? 522 Philip Kitcher 27 Is Human Genetics Disguised Eugenics? 536 Diane B. Paul 28 Normality and Variation: The Human Genome Project and the Ideal Human 552 Type Elisabeth A. Lloyd 29 The Human Genome Project: Research Tactics and Economic Strategies 567 Alexander Rosenberg Part IX: Progress 587 Introduction to Part IX 589 Michael Ruse 30 The Moral Foundations of the Idea of Evolutionary Progress: Darwin, 592 Spencer, and the NeoDarwinians Robert J. Richards 31 Evolution and Progress 610 Michael Ruse 32 Complexity and Evolution: What Everybody Knows 625 Daniel W. McShea 33 On Replacing the Idea of Progress with an Operational Notion of 650 Directionality Stephen Jay Gould Page ix Part X: Creationism 669 Introduction to Part X 671 Michael Ruse 34 When Faith and Reason Clash: Evolution and the Bible 674 Alvin Plantinga 35 Evolution and Special Creation 698 Ernan McMullin 36 Reply to McMullin 734 Alvin Plantinga Notes on the Contributors 755 Further Reading 760 Index 769 Page 1 INTRODUCTION DAVID L. HULL AND MICHAEL RUSE During the past three decades, philosophy of biology has come into its own. It is now a mature discipline. In fact, the classic papers in this discipline are so familiar by now that they need not be reproduced again. Instead, more recent papers by some of the newer members of the profession are included in this anthology. Of the thirtysix papers reproduced here, all but three appeared in the last decade. And members of our profession are not limited to professional philosophers. Rather, a third of the papers in this anthology were authored or coauthored by scientists, primarily biologists. In no other area of philosophy of science have philosophers and scientists cooperated to the extent that they have in philosophy of biology. Of the traditional issues in philosophy of biology, we have included four—adaptation, units of selection, function, and species. As central as adaptation is to evolutionary biology, problems arise with respect to its application. Is it as slippery a notion as Gould and Lewontin in their classic paper claim, or is it no different in kind from other fundamental concepts in biology? Fitness has played such an extensive role in philosophy of biology that some critics refer to our discipline derisively as 'the philosophy of fitness'. In this anthology an equally important issue—the levels at which Selection occurs—is discussed at some length. On no other issue have philosophers and biologists cooperated to greater mutual benefit. Over the years two distinct senses of 'function' have emerged in the philosophical literature—Cummins functions and Wright functions. Can they be merged into a single, unambiguous usage, as Philip Kitcher suggests? As in the case of function, one would think that nothing new could possibly be said about the species problem. However, the papers included here show that this is not the case. There is something new under the sun. Phylogenetic species concepts are nothing if not novel. Finally, although development surely deserves to be a central issue in the philosophy of biology, it has been all but ignored until quite recently. As the two papers
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