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Evolutionary Synthesis: A Search for The Strategy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Juha Tuomi
Juha Tuomi*
Affiliation:
Department of Ecology, Theoretical Ecology, Lund University
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Abstract

The goal of evolutionary theory is to (a) specify the general causal structure of evolving systems and (b) analyze evolutionary consequences that are expected to result from the proposed structure of the model systems. Biologists frequently emphasize the hypothetico-deductive method in evolutionary theory. I will show that this method primarily provides a tactical device for (b), while evolutionary synthesis requires a foundation of a unifying conceptual model for (a). Therefore, any successful strategy for a new synthesis requires both a new conceptual insight of evolving systems, and tactical devices for analyzing new specific aspects of the evolutionary process.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 59 , Issue 3 , September 1992 , pp. 429 - 438
Copyright
Copyright © 1992 by the Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

†

Send reprint requests to the author, Department of Ecology, Theoretical Ecology, Lund University, Ecology Building, S-223 62 Lund, SWEDEN.

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