Philosophy of Biology

Preface xiii

recountstheemergenceofpopulationgenetics.(Herdiscussioniscomplemented

bythatofSahotraSarkarinhisentryonHaldane.) AlexanderRosenbergand

MichaelWheelerdiscussmoleculargenetics,Rosenbergdealingwithissuesofre-

duction,andWheelerdiggingintothenotionofgeneticcoding.

PartVconcernsagroupofessaysdealingwithphilosophicalapplicationsarising

outofthepracticeofbiology. Here,PaulThompsondealswithformalsystems

thataremeanttocapturethecontentofbiologicaltheory;TimLewenswriteson

andMarkBedauonartificiallife.

ThereaderwillnotfailtonoticetheorientationofPartI,whichisdevoted

tointellectualbiography. Foraswewereplanningthissection,wefoundthat

ourattentioncamewilly-nillytobefocussedentirelyononeinterpretationofhow

evolutionisimportant.Thus,weincludednotonlyCharlesDarwininthissection

(theentryisbyMichaelRuse),butalsothefourgreatfiguresofpopulationgenet-

ics,R.A.Fisher(RobertSkipper),SewallWright(JimCrow),J.B.S.Haldane

(SahotraSarkar),andMotooKimura(JimCrowagain).Insodoing,weleftout

notonlysuchfascinatingfiguresasGregorMendel(butseeFalk),JamesWatson,

andFrancisCrick,butalsocompetingfiguresinthestudyofevolutionsuchas

ErnstMayr(whosebitterdisagreementwiththeheroesofpopulationgeneticsis

recordedinthelasttenpagesofSahotraSarkar’sessayonHaldane). Inpart,

thishastodowiththetheoreticalcharacterofthisbranchofevolution—pop-

ulationgeneticsdealswithabstractions,andassuchitattractstheattentionof

philosophersmorethannaturalhistorydoes.Morerelevantly,itreflectsactuality:

whatphilosophersofbiologywanttowriteabout.Nodoubt,thiswillchange;for

intime,questionsaboutgeneticsmaycometooccupymoreoftheforeground.

Whenthathappens,theintellectualbiographiesoffiguressuchasThomasHunt

philosophy.Fornow,wecanonlyhopethattheissue-orientedhistoriespresented

byFalkandMorrisonwillservetoprovokemorephilosophicaldiscussionofthe

historyofgenetics.

Wecanvassedalargenumberofpeopleinthefield,andwelearnedagreatdeal

aboutwhatoccupiedtheirattention.Welearned,forexample,thatcreationism

justdoesnotoccupytheattentionofphilosophersofbiologythewayitdideven

afewyearsago. Whilenoteverythingthatneedstobesaidaboutthissubject

hasbeensaid,manyphilosophersnowviewitasmoreofsocialandpoliticalthan

functions, Karen Neander on mental representation, Andr Ariew on innateness,

Morgan and Herman J.Müllermay occupy the attention of more scholars within

of philosophical interest. As it turned out, the Handbook is pre-eminently focussed

biology, with a number of particularly interesting philosophical dimensions.

́e

on the conceptual, methodological and historical issues in evolutionary theory.

Second, most of the scholars of the last few decades have in fact focussed

two reasons. First, evolution is arguably at the conceptual centre of contemporary

on historical and conceptual issues surrounding evolutionary theory. This is so for