This dissertation brings a contribution to the philosophical debate on adaptive landscapes, an influent "model" or "metaphor" in evolutionary biology. Some elements of innovation are: the distinction between native and migrant metaphor; a processual and communicational idea on what the Modern Synthesis was, and on what role a metaphor could have played in it; a view (taken by Richard Lewontin) of the disunity and theoretical structure of population genetics; the distinction between “adaptive surfaces” (mainly metaphors) and “combination spaces”, two terms normally conflated in the word “landscape”; an analysis of what bridges (including heuristics) may be cast between equations of gene frequency and the genotype space that, due to its huge dimensionality, cannot be handled by mathematics; a specified vocabulary to be used to clear the adaptive landscapes debate, accompanied by a plea in favor of a pragmatic approach - for example, the plurality of available notions of model forces us to choose one notion and see where it brings, otherwise we get stuck in confused, endless debates; an updated analytical comment of recent landscapes - Dobzhansky, Simpson, Dawkins but also the proliferation of combination spaces used in evolutionary biology to address a great variety of problems; the vision (got by Sergey Gavrilets) of a patchwork of tools finally making Mendelian population suitable model also for speciation; the exact position of holey landscapes in this patchwork, and the idea that scientists’s questions - like “how possibly” questions - matter in accessing this patchwork and in deciding “what explains” and “what describes” what in the world; the direct response to some mistakes Massimo Pigliucci made, I think, in his assessment of the adaptive landscape; an analysis of the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis project at its present stage, and some reflections on the conditions that will allow such a project to give a fair treatment and a good position to tools from the past, like the adaptive landscapes.

(2011). Adaptive landscapes: a case study of metaphors, models, and synthesis in evolutionary biology. (Tesi di dottorato, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, 2011).

Adaptive landscapes: a case study of metaphors, models, and synthesis in evolutionary biology

SERRELLI, EMANUELE
2011

Abstract

This dissertation brings a contribution to the philosophical debate on adaptive landscapes, an influent "model" or "metaphor" in evolutionary biology. Some elements of innovation are: the distinction between native and migrant metaphor; a processual and communicational idea on what the Modern Synthesis was, and on what role a metaphor could have played in it; a view (taken by Richard Lewontin) of the disunity and theoretical structure of population genetics; the distinction between “adaptive surfaces” (mainly metaphors) and “combination spaces”, two terms normally conflated in the word “landscape”; an analysis of what bridges (including heuristics) may be cast between equations of gene frequency and the genotype space that, due to its huge dimensionality, cannot be handled by mathematics; a specified vocabulary to be used to clear the adaptive landscapes debate, accompanied by a plea in favor of a pragmatic approach - for example, the plurality of available notions of model forces us to choose one notion and see where it brings, otherwise we get stuck in confused, endless debates; an updated analytical comment of recent landscapes - Dobzhansky, Simpson, Dawkins but also the proliferation of combination spaces used in evolutionary biology to address a great variety of problems; the vision (got by Sergey Gavrilets) of a patchwork of tools finally making Mendelian population suitable model also for speciation; the exact position of holey landscapes in this patchwork, and the idea that scientists’s questions - like “how possibly” questions - matter in accessing this patchwork and in deciding “what explains” and “what describes” what in the world; the direct response to some mistakes Massimo Pigliucci made, I think, in his assessment of the adaptive landscape; an analysis of the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis project at its present stage, and some reflections on the conditions that will allow such a project to give a fair treatment and a good position to tools from the past, like the adaptive landscapes.
PIEVANI, DIETELMO
evolution, biology, philosophy of science, model, metaphor, synthesis, adaptive or fitness landscapes, surfaces, visualization, dobzhansky, simpson, dawkins, gavrilets, j huxley, pigliucci, modern and extended evolutionary synthesis, population genetics, mendelian combination space
M-FIL/02 - LOGICA E FILOSOFIA DELLA SCIENZA
English
17-gen-2011
Scuola di Dottorato in Scienze Umane
SCIENZE DELLA FORMAZIONE E DELLA COMUNICAZIONE - 47R
23
2009/2010
Part of the research has been carried out during 2010 at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT.
open
(2011). Adaptive landscapes: a case study of metaphors, models, and synthesis in evolutionary biology. (Tesi di dottorato, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, 2011).
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10281/19338
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