Chance and macroevolution

Philosophy of Science 67 (4):603-624 (2000)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

When philosophers of physics explore the nature of chance, they usually look to quantum mechanics. When philosophers of biology explore the nature of chance, they usually look to microevolutionary phenomena, such as mutation or random drift. What has been largely overlooked is the role of chance in macroevolution. The stochastic models of paleobiology employ conceptions of chance that are similar to those at the microevolutionary level, yet different from the conceptions of chance often associated with quantum mechanics and Laplacean determinism.

Other Versions

No versions found

Similar books and articles

Analytics

Added to PP
2009-01-28

Downloads
866 (#31,079)

6 months
160 (#33,591)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Roberta L. Millstein
University of California, Davis

Citations of this work

Natural selection as a population-level causal process.Roberta L. Millstein - 2006 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 57 (4):627-653.
Convergent evolution and the limits of natural selection.Russell Powell - 2012 - European Journal for Philosophy of Science 2 (3):355-373.
Gould’s replay revisited.Derek D. Turner - 2011 - Biology and Philosophy 26 (1):65-79.

View all 21 citations / Add more citations