Evolution and Constraints on Variation: Variant Specification and Range of Assessment

There is still a great deal of debate over what counts as a constraint and about how to assess experimentally the relative importance of constraints and selection in evolutionary history. I will argue that the notion of a constraint on variation, and thus the selection-constraint distinction, depend...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Philosophy of science 2011-12, Vol.78 (5), p.739-751
Main Author: Pearce, Trevor
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Artificial selection
Bias
Biological evolution
Biology
Butterflies
Constraint on variation
Embryos
Empiricism
Epistemology. Philosophy of science. Theory of knowledge
Evolution
Evolutionary biology
Evolutionary theory
Genetic variation
Natural selection
Phenotypes
Phenotypic traits
Philosophy
Philosophy of science
Selection
Specifications
Variance
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:There is still a great deal of debate over what counts as a constraint and about how to assess experimentally the relative importance of constraints and selection in evolutionary history. I will argue that the notion of a constraint on variation, and thus the selection-constraint distinction, depends on two specifications: (1) what counts as a variant—constraints limit or bias the production ofwhat? and (2) range of assessment—over what range of times or conditions is the variation assessed? Specifications 1 and 2 help us to understand empirical work on the relative importance of constraint and selection in evolution.
ISSN:0031-8248
1539-767X
DOI:10.1086/664568