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A Semantic Approach to the Structure of Population Genetics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Elisabeth A. Lloyd
Elisabeth A. Lloyd*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, Princeton University
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Abstract

A precise formulation of the structure of modern evolutionary theory has proved elusive. In this paper, I introduce and develop a formal approach to the structure of population genetics, evolutionary theory's most developed sub-theory. Under the semantic approach, used as a framework in this paper, presenting a theory consists in presenting a related family of models. I offer general guidelines and examples for the classification of population genetics models; the defining features of the models are taken to be their state spaces, parameters, and laws. The suggestions regarding the various aspects of the characterization of population genetics models provide an outline for further detailed research.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 51 , Issue 2 , June 1984 , pp. 242 - 264
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 1984

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Footnotes

†

I wish to thank Bas van Fraassen, Richard Lewontin, David Hull, Lindley Darden, Mary Williams, Steven Orzack, and two anonymous referees for this journal for their questions, criticism, and suggestions.

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