The Rise of Chance in Evolutionary Theory: A Pompous Parade of Arithmetic explores a pivotal conceptual moment in the history of evolutionary theory: the development of its extensive reliance on a wide array of concepts of chance. It tells the history of a methodological and conceptual development that reshaped our approach to natural selection over a century, ranging from Darwin’s earliest notebooks in the 1830s to the early years of the Modern Synthesis in the 1930s. Far from being a “pompous parade of arithmetic, as one early critic argued, evolution transformed during this period to make these conceptual and technical tools indispensable.
This book charts the role of chance in evolutionary theory from its beginnings to the earliest days of modern evolutionary theory, making it an ideal resource for evolutionary biologists, historians, philosophers, and researchers in science studies or biological statistics.
1. The Rise of Chance in Evolutionary Theory - p. Page i 2. Cover - p. Page i 3. Front Matter - p. Page i 4. Table of Contents - p. Page iii 5. Copyright - p. Page iv 6. Acknowledgments - p. Page v 7. List of Illustrations - p. Page vi 8. Chapter 1 : Chance governs the descent of a farthing: Charles Darwin - p. Page vi 9. Chapter 2 : The wonderful form of cosmic order: Francis Galton - p. Page 19 10. Chapter 3 : The only ultimate test of the theory of natural selection: The early years of biometry - p. Page 47 11. Chapter 4 : Here is the true gospel: Biometry after Mendelism - p. Page 74 12. Chapter 5 : Reconciling the biometrical conclusions: Evolution from 1906 to 1918 - p. Page 97 13. Chapter 6 : What natural selection must be doing: R. A. Fisher’s early synthesis - p. Page 129 14. Chapter 7 : Conclusions, historiographical and philosophical - p. Page 162 15. Index - p. Page 178
The Rise of Chance in Evolutionary Theory: A Pompous Parade of Arithmetic explores a pivotal conceptual moment in the history of evolutionary theory: the development of its extensive reliance on a wide array of concepts of chance. It tells the history of a methodological and conceptual development that reshaped our approach to natural selection over a century, ranging from Darwin’s earliest notebooks in the 1830s to the early years of the Modern Synthesis in the 1930s. Far from being a “pompous parade of arithmetic, as one early critic argued, evolution transformed during this period to make these conceptual and technical tools indispensable.
This book charts the role of chance in evolutionary theory from its beginnings to the earliest days of modern evolutionary theory, making it an ideal resource for evolutionary biologists, historians, philosophers, and researchers in science studies or biological statistics.
1. The Rise of Chance in Evolutionary Theory - p. Page i 2. Cover - p. Page i 3. Front Matter - p. Page i 4. Table of Contents - p. Page iii 5. Copyright - p. Page iv 6. Acknowledgments - p. Page v 7. List of Illustrations - p. Page vi 8. Chapter 1 : Chance governs the descent of a farthing: Charles Darwin - p. Page vi 9. Chapter 2 : The wonderful form of cosmic order: Francis Galton - p. Page 19 10. Chapter 3 : The only ultimate test of the theory of natural selection: The early years of biometry - p. Page 47 11. Chapter 4 : Here is the true gospel: Biometry after Mendelism - p. Page 74 12. Chapter 5 : Reconciling the biometrical conclusions: Evolution from 1906 to 1918 - p. Page 97 13. Chapter 6 : What natural selection must be doing: R. A. Fisher’s early synthesis - p. Page 129 14. Chapter 7 : Conclusions, historiographical and philosophical - p. Page 162 15. Index - p. Page 178
