Contemporary Debates in Philosophy of Biology

Notes on Contributors

General Introduction

References and Further Reading

Part I: Is It Possible to Reduce Biological Explanations to
Explanations in Chemistry and/or Physics?

Part II: Have Traits Evolved to Function the Way They Do Because
of a Past Advantage?

Part III: Are Species Real?

Part IV: Does Selection Operate Primarily on Genes?

Part V: Are Microevolution and Macroevolution Governed by the
Same Processes?

Part VI: Does Evolutionary Developmental Biology Offer a
Significant Challenge to the Neo-Darwinian Paradigm?

Part VII: Were the Basic Components of the Human Mind Solidified
During the Pleistocene Epoch?

Part VIII: Does Memetics Provide a Useful Way of Understanding
Cultural Evolution?

Part IX: Can the Biological Sciences Act as a Ground for
Ethics?

Part X: Is There a Place for Intelligent Design in the
Philosophy of Biology?

Index

"All chapters (including the very interesting
contributions on the species problem by Claridge and Mishler, as
well as the stimulating papers on evolutionary ethics by Ruse and
Ayala) serve as an excellent introduction to the most hotly debated
topics in the philosophy of biology today."
(Metascience, 2011)

"A brief review like this can scarcely do justice to the richness
of the ideas discussed in this text or the considerable care that
went into its organization. This is, in short, a very fine
contribution to the pedagogical literature on philosophy of
biology. The editors are to be congratulated for the thoughtfulness
that went into producing this text. May it gain the wide acceptance
it deserves." (Science & Education, 2010)

"Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates and above".
(Choice, 1 November 2010)

"Contemporary Debates in Philosophy of Biology is
an engaging anthology with many interesting contributions. The
strength of the book is the format: two eminent representatives of
the biophilosophical community have their say on a pivotal
biophilosophical issue." (
Metapsychology, May
2010)

"A very fine contribution to the pedagogical literature on
philosophy of biology. The editors are to be congratulated for the
thoughtfulness that went into producing this text. May it gain the
wide acceptance it deserves." (Science & Education, March
2010)



"A greatly needed and welcome contribution by excellent
scholars, this book invites newcomers and experts alike to think
critically about core issues in the philosophy of
biology."

-Roberta L. Millstein, University of California, Davis

Francisco J. Ayala is Donald Bren Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of California, Irvine, USA. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. In 2001, he received the National Medal of Science. Ayala has published more than 950 articles and is the author or editor of 31 books. He has been named the Renaissance Man of Evolutionary Biology by The New York Times.

Robert Arp is an analyst at The Analysis Group, LLC who has interests in philosophy of biology and ontology in the informatics sense. He is the author of Scenario Visualization: An Evolutionary Account of Creative Problem Solving (2008), and co-editor of Philosophy of Biology: An Anthology (Wiley-Blackwell, 2009).

F. J. Ayala, University of California, Irvine, USA; R. Arp, Independent Researcher