Global ETD Search
Search theses and dissertations gathered from participating repositories worldwide. Every result links back to the library that holds it. No account is needed.
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Showing 1 to 14 of 14 for “"Philosophy of Biology"”.
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Some Philosophical Origins of an Ecological Sensibility
… is centered on problems within the history and philosophy of biology. The project identifies the philosophical roots of the current ecological movement and shows how a version of philosophical naturalism might be put to use within contemporary ethical issues in biology, and aid in the …
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On the Functions of Morality
… literatures: the functions literature from the philosophy of biology, and the functionalist literature in naturalistic metaethics. Biological function suggests both objectivity and normativity: “the function of the heart is to pump blood” is an objective fact, and yet, hearts may malfunction—and …
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Going Over the Dark Places: A Philosophical Model of Fitness-Maximizing, Highly Interconnected Systems in Highly Dynamic Environments
… dissertation builds a philosophical model, SEER, of fitness-maximizing, highly interconnected systems in highly dynamic environments. I argue that such systems are maximally robust, where robustness is the property of maintaining functionality across multiple environments. I then argue that …
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The Manipulated Mechanism: Towards an Account of the Experimental Discovery of Mechanistic Explanations
Recent work in the philosophy of biology has sought after an account of mechanistic explanation. Biologists frequently encounter causal relationships that beg for explanation. For example, genes appear to encode for particular phenotypes. How does gene expression work? Biologists posit mechanisms …
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Against Natural Teleology and its Application in Ethical Theory
Many ethical theories depend on the existence of natural teleology as a source of normativity. Natural Teleology, the purposive goal-directedness of non-conscious biological processes, is also embraced to some degree by a majority of philosophers of biology who agree that the teleological concepts …
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Modelling religious signalling
The origins of human social cooperation confound simple evolutionary explanation. But from Darwin and Durkheim onwards, theorists (anthropologists and sociologists especially) have posited a potential link with another curious and distinctively human social trait that cries out for explanation: …
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Modelling religious signalling
The origins of human social cooperation confound simple evolutionary explanation. But from Darwin and Durkheim onwards, theorists (anthropologists and sociologists especially) have posited a potential link with another curious and distinctively human social trait that cries out for explanation: …
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Ends, Norms, and Representations: Why ask "Why?" in Biology?
… I address three philosophical problems in the philosophy of biology united by the underlying, and interlocking, issues of the explanatory role of teleological, normative, and representational concepts in biology. In the first chapter, I argue that extant accounts of functions have foundered on …
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The Machine–Organism Distinction
The idea that analysis of organisms can proceed by distinguishing organisms from machines is common to many areas of philosophy. This thesis argues that our search for a philosophy of organisms should not proceed by defining or relying on a Machine–Organism Distinction (MOD). We are often able to …
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Conceptual Challenges in Cultural Selection
The aim of my thesis is to address key conceptual challenges within cultural selection, in order to provide a rigorous evaluation of its promise and scope. Cultural selection, a process analogous to natural selection which operates on cultural traits, has been proposed as an explanation for a wide …
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Natural Selection Reconsidered
… which tend to underpin mainstream accounts of natural selection, noting where those assumptions break down and taking this as a basis for fresh analysis. First, I examine the assumption that natural selection inherently involves struggle or competition. I show selection can take place …
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A Study of Evolutionary Contingency: Characterisation, Mechanisms, and Evidence
This thesis focuses on three aspects of evolutionary contingency: (i) the characterisation of evolutionary contingency, (ii) the mechanisms of evolutionary contingency, and (iii) the evidence for and against evolutionary contingency. Part I of the thesis, which focuses on characterisation, …