Evolution at a Crossroads: The New Biology and the New Philosophy of Science

The 10 original essays in Evolution at a Crossroads explore "post-Kuhnian" approaches to conceptual problems in contemporary evolutionary and developmental theory. They focus in particular on the effect that current, rapid developments in molecular biology are having on our understanding of evolution and philosophy of science.Philosophy of science has swung widely between the dogmas of logical empiricism and relativism. Evolution at a Crossroads seeks to forge a new synthesis of the two trends to search for a more solid framework for evolutionary biology as well as a more solid philosophy of science. Complementing and extending such anthologies as Elliot Sober's Conceptual Issues in Evolutionary Biology, Robert Brandon's and Richard Burrian's Genes, Organisms, Populations, and Marjorie Grene's Dimensions of Darwinism, this book adds substantially to the emerging and rapidly developing discipline known as "the philosophy of biology."David J. Depew is Professor of Philosophy, and Bruce H. Weber is Professor of Chemistry and Molecular Biology, at California State University, Fullerton. A Bradford Book