IsisCB Explore

Thesis ID: CBB001560817

Explaining Evolutionary Innovation and Novelty: A Historical and Philosophical Study of Biological Concepts (2005)

University of Pittsburgh
Lennox, James G.

Publication Date: 2005
Edition Details: Advisor: Lennox, James G.
Physical Details: 598 pp.
Language: English

Outside Links

Academia.edu

Molecular biology Philosophy of science Evolution Developmental biology Explanation; hypotheses; theories Evolutionary developmental biology 20th century

Explaining evolutionary novelties (such as feathers or neural crest cells) is a central item on the research agenda of evolutionary developmental biology (Evo-devo). Proponents of Evo-devo have claimed that the origin of innovation and novelty constitute a distinct research problem, ignored by evolutionary theory during the latter half of the 20 th century, and that Evo-devo as a synthesis of biological disciplines is in a unique position to address this problem. In order to answer historical and philosophical questions attending these claims, two philosophical tools were developed. The first, conceptual clusters , captures the joint deployment of concepts in the offering of scientific explanations and allows for a novel definition of conceptual change. The second, problem agendas , captures the multifaceted nature of explanatory domains in biological science and their diachronic stability. The value of problem agendas as an analytical unit is illustrated through the examples of avian feather and flight origination. Historical research shows that explanations of innovation and novelty were not ignored. They were situated in disciplines such as comparative embryology, morphology, and paleontology (exemplified in the research of N.J. Berrill, D.D. Davis, and W.K. Gregory), which were overlooked because of a historiography emphasizing the relations between genetics and experimental embryology. This identified the origin of Evo-devo tools (developmental genetics) but missed the source of its problem agenda. The structure of developmental genetic explanations of innovations and novelties is compared and contrasted with those of other disciplinary approaches, past and present. Applying the tool of conceptual clusters to these explanations reveals a unique form of conceptual change over the past five decades: a change in the causal and evidential concepts appealed to in explanations. Specification of the criteria of explanatory adequacy for the problem agenda of innovation and novelty indicates that Evo-devo qua disciplinary synthesis requires more attention to the construction of integrated explanations from its constituent disciplines besides developmental genetics. A model for explanations integrating multiple disciplinary contributions is provided. The phylogenetic approach to philosophy of science utilized in this study is relevant to philosophical studies of other sciences and meets numerous criteria of adequacy for analyses of conceptual change.

...More

Description Looks at conceptual change in the nature of explanations of biological novelty in evolutionary developmental biology over the past 50 years as related to the field's multiple disciplinary origins. Cited in Diss. Abstr. Int. A 67/06 (2007). Pub. no. AAT 3224001.

Citation URI

http://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001560817/

Citations Indexes

Similar Citations

Article Antonine Nicoglou; Francesca Merlin; (2017)
Epigenetics: A way to bridge the gap between biological fields (/isis/citation/CBB128944502/)

Article McManus, Fabrizzio; (2012)
Development and Mechanistic Explanation (/isis/citation/CBB001221636/)

Article Alessandro Minelli; (2020)
Genes, embryos and evolution (/isis/citation/CBB307786830/)

Chapter Aldo Fasolo; Davide Lovisolo; (2015)
"The Cell in Development and Inheritance", centoventi anni dopo. E.B. Wilson, la teoria cellulare e il tassello mancante: la membrana plasmatica (/isis/citation/CBB288072174/)

Book Sansom, Roger; Brandon, Robert N; (2007)
Integrating Evolution and Development: From Theory to Practice (/isis/citation/CBB001213665/)

Article Henri Buc; Pierre-Olivier Méthot; (2020)
1970, Le Hasard et la nécessité et La Logique du vivant: Quelques souvenirs des uns et des autres (/isis/citation/CBB863384412/)

Article Hull, David L.; (2011)
Defining Darwinism (/isis/citation/CBB001023980/)

Book Riccardo Mona; (2023)
Oltre il meccanicismo. La causalità della teoria dell'evoluzione (/isis/citation/CBB780306593/)

Book Amundson, Ronald; (2005)
The Changing Role of the Embryo in Evolutionary Thought: Roots of Evo-Devo (/isis/citation/CBB000550706/)

Article Laurent Loison; (2020)
De la nécessité au hasard et à la finalité: Les transformations du concept de gratuité dans l’itinéraire intellectuel de Jacques Monod (/isis/citation/CBB789361455/)

Chapter Jablonka, Eva; (2011)
Lamarckian Problematics in Biology (/isis/citation/CBB001500093/)

Article Kutschera, Ulrich; Niklas, Karl J.; (2004)
The Modern Theory of Biological Evolution: An Expanded Synthesis (/isis/citation/CBB000620122/)

Article Davide Vecchi; (2020)
DNA is not an ontologically distinctive developmental cause (/isis/citation/CBB782857037/)

Article Ute Deichmann; (2017)
Hierarchy, Determinism, and Specificity in Theories of Development and Evolution (/isis/citation/CBB808879921/)

Thesis Hendrikse, Jesse Love; (2006)
Explanation and Inheritance (/isis/citation/CBB001561700/)

Article Manfred Drack; (2009)
Towards the System Heuristics of Paul Weiss (/isis/citation/CBB262240198/)

Thesis Brigandt, Ingo; (2006)
A Theory of Conceptual Advance: Explaining Conceptual Change in Evolutionary, Molecular, and Evolutionary Developmental Biology (/isis/citation/CBB001560506/)

Article Morgan, Gregory J.; (2001)
Bacteriophage Biology and Kenneth Schaffner's Rendition of Developmentalism (/isis/citation/CBB000100691/)

Article Richardson, Michael K.; Keuck, Gerhard; (2002)
Haeckel's ABC of Evolution and Development (/isis/citation/CBB000400986/)

Book Love, Alan C.; (2015)
Conceptual Change in Biology: Scientific And Philosophical Perspectives on Evolution and Development (/isis/citation/CBB001550598/)