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Chance and Macroevolution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Roberta L. Millstein
Roberta L. Millstein*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, California State University, Hayward
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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.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 67 , Issue 4 , December 2000 , pp. 603 - 624
Copyright
Copyright © 2000 by the Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

†

Send reprint requests to the author, Department of Philosophy, California State University, Hayward, 25800 Carlos Bee Boulevard, Hayward, CA 94542.

‡

I would like to thank John Beatty, Ron Giere, and Ken Waters for their helpful comments on earlier versions of this paper. I also thank the anonymous refereees for their constructive remarks. This work was supported by a Faculty Support Grant from California State University, Hayward.

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