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Modeling Evolution in Theory and Practice

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Anya Plutynski
Anya Plutynski*
Affiliation:
University of Pennsylvania
*
†Send requests for reprints to the author, Department of Philosophy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104; email: [email protected].
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Abstract

This paper uses a number of examples of diverse types and functions of models in evolutionary biology to argue that the demarcation between theory and practice, or “theory model” and “data model,” is often difficult to make. It is shown how both mathematical and laboratory models function as plausibility arguments, existence proofs, and refutations in the investigation of questions about the pattern and process of evolutionary history. I consider the consequences of this for the semantic approach to theories and theory confirmation. The paper attempts to reconcile the insights of both critics and advocates of the semantic approach to theories.

Type
Philosophy of Biology and Cognition
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 68 , Issue S3: No. 3 Supplement: Proceedings of the 2000 Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association. Part I: Contributed Papers Sep., 2001 , 2001 , pp. S225 - S236
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 2001

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Footnotes

‡

I would like to thank Dr. Gary Hatfield, Dr. Paul Sniegowski, Dr. Warren Ewens, Dr. David Magnus, and an anonymous reviewer for commenting on earlier drafts of this paper.

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