Evolution, explanation, ethics and aesthetics : towards a philosophy of biology / Francisco J. Ayala.

Evolution, Mind and Method: Towards a Philosophy of Biology focuses on the dominant biological topic of evolution. It deals with the prevailing philosophical themes of how to explain the adaptation of organisms, the interplay of chance and necessity, and the recurrent topics of emergence, reductionism, and progress. In addition, the extensively treated topic of how to explain human nature as a result of natural processes and the encompassed issues of the foundations of morality and the brain-to-mind transformation is discussed. The philosophy of biology is a rapidly expanding field, not more than half a century old at most, and to a large extent is replacing the interest in the philosophy of physics that prevailed in the first two-thirds of the twentieth century. Few texts available have the benefit of being written by an eminent biologist who happens to be also a philosopher, as in this work. This book is a useful resource for seminar courses and college courses on the philosophy of biology. Researchers, academics, and students in evolutionary biology, behavior, genetics, and biodiversity will also be interested in this work, as will those in human biology and issues such as ethics, religion, and the human mind, along with professional philosophers of science and those concerned with such issues as whether evolution is compatible with religion and/or where morality comes from.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Online resource; title from PDF title page (ScienceDirect, viewed August 8, 2016).

Front Cover; Evolution, Explanation, Ethics, and Aesthetics; Evolution, Explanation, Ethics, and Aesthetics; Copyright; Contents; Preface; I -- Evolution; 1 -- The Darwinian Revolution ; INTRODUCTION; GREEK ANTIQUITY; CHRISTIANITY AND EUROPE UNTIL DARWIN; CHARLES DARWIN; COPERNICUS AND DARWIN; DARWIN'S THEORY; DARWIN AND WALLACE; THE DARWINIAN AFTERMATH; DARWIN AND MENDEL; THE SYNTHETIC THEORY; MOLECULAR BIOLOGY; EARTH SCIENCES, BIOGEOGRAPHY, AND ECOLOGY; THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES; 2 -- Evolution Is a "Fact" ; INTRODUCTION; THE UNIVERSE; BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION; THE "FACT" OF BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION.

THE FOSSIL RECORDARCHAEOPTERYX AND TIKTAALIK; EXTINCTION; ANATOMICAL SIMILARITIES; EMBRYONIC SIMILARITIES AND VESTIGES; BIOGEOGRAPHY; HAWAII'S BIOLOGICAL CAULDRON; MOLECULAR BIOLOGY; 3. Life's Origin; Introduction; The Unity of Life; Early Life; What Is Life?; Life in the Laboratory?; Heredity; Origins; 4 -- LUCA and the Tree of Life ; INTRODUCTION; TAXONOMY; HOMOLOGY AND ANALOGY; MOLECULAR BIOLOGY; CLADOGENESIS AND ANAGENESIS: EVOLUTIONARY TREES; Distance Methods; Maximum Parsimony Methods; Maximum Likelihood Methods; EVALUATION OF EVOLUTIONARY TREES; THE MOLECULAR CLOCK.

THE NEUTRALITY THEORY OF MOLECULAR EVOLUTION5 -- Three Grand Challenges of Human Biology ; INTRODUCTION; LIFE TO HUMAN; HUMAN ORIGINS; THE HUMAN GENOME SEQUENCE; BEYOND THE HUMAN GENOME; ONTOGENETIC DECODING; THE BRAIN-MIND PUZZLE; THE APE-TO-HUMAN TRANSFORMATION; BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION VERSUS CULTURAL EVOLUTION; II -- Explanation; 6 -- Design Without Designer ; INTRODUCTION; THE ARGUMENT FROM DESIGN; EMERGENCE OF MODERN SCIENCE; DARWIN'S DISCOVERY; NATURAL SELECTION AS A "DESIGN" PROCESS; MATHEMATICAL CHALLENGES; DESIGN AND CHANCE; EVIDENCE OF EVOLUTION; DEFECTS, DEFICIENCIES, AND DYSFUNCTIONS.

POWERS AND LIMITS OF SCIENCE7 -- Adaptation and Novelty: Teleological Explanations in Evolutionary Biology ; INTRODUCTION; TELEOLOGY; TELEOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS: A DEFINITION; TELEOLOGICAL FEATURES AND BEHAVIORS IN ORGANISMS; PROXIMATE VERSUS ULTIMATE TELEOLOGY; NATURAL VERSUS ARTIFICIAL TELEOLOGY; DETERMINATE VERSUS INDETERMINATE TELEOLOGY; OBJECTIONS AND RESPONSES; TELEOLOGY AND CAUSALITY; TELEOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS ARE TESTABLE HYPOTHESES; UTILITY AS TOUCHSTONE CRITERION; TELEOLOGY VERSUS TELEONOMY: CICERO'S TRANSLATION OF ARISTOTLE'S AITION; ERNST MAYR (1998) ON TELEOLOGY.

8 -- Evolution and Progress INTRODUCTION; EARLY IDEAS; EVOLUTIONARY PROGRESS; CHANGE, EVOLUTION, DIRECTION; THE CONCEPT OF PROGRESS; EVOLUTIONARY PROGRESS; THE EXPANSION OF LIFE; STANDARDS OF PROGRESS; INFORMATION PROCESSING; CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS; 9 -- The Scientific Method ; INTRODUCTION; BEYOND INDUCTIVISM; SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE; INDUCTION IN SCIENCE; THE HYPOTHETICO-DEDUCTIVE METHOD; THE CRITERION OF DEMARCATION; VERIFIABILITY AND FALSIFIABILITY; EMPIRICAL CONTENT OR "TRUTHFULNESS"; CONTINGENCY AND CERTAINTY; "FACT" AND "THEORY" IN SCIENTIFIC USE; ERROR AND FRAUD IN SCIENCE.