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Evolution (Biology) --- Natural selection

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The components of living systems strike us as functional-as for the sake of certain ends--and as endowed with specific norms of performance. The mammalian eye, for example, has the function of perceiving and processing light, and possession of this property tempts us to claim that token eyes are supposed to perceive and process light. That is, we tend to evaluate the performance of token eyes against the norm described in the attributed functional property. Hence the norms of nature.What, then, are the norms of nature? Whence do they arise? Out of what natural properties or relations are they constituted? In Norms of Nature, Paul Sheldon Davies argues against the prevailing view that natural norms are constituted out of some form of historical success--usually success in natural selection. He defends the view that functions are nothing more than effects that contribute to the exercise of some more general systemic capacity. Natural functions exist insofar as the components of natural systems contribute to the exercise of systemic capacities. This is so irrespective of the system's history. Even if the mammalian eye had never been selected for, it would have the function of perceiving and processing light, because those are the effects that contribute to the exercise of the visual system. The systemic approach to conceptualizing natural norms, claims Davies, is superior to the historical approach in several important ways. Especially significant is that it helps us understand how the attribution of functions within the life sciences coheres with the methods and ontology of the natural sciences generally.

Biology --- Health & Biological Sciences --- Biology - General --- Natural selection. --- Naturalism. --- Naturalism --- Natural selection --- Darwinism --- Selection, Natural --- Philosophy. --- PHILOSOPHY/Philosophy of Science & Technology --- Materialism --- Mechanism (Philosophy) --- Philosophy --- Positivism --- Science --- Genetics --- Variation (Biology) --- Biological invasions --- Evolution (Biology) --- Heredity --- Vitalism

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In the last few decades, religious and secular thinkers have tackled the world's escalating environmental crisis by attempting to develop an ecological ethic that is both scientifically accurate and free of human-centered preconceptions. This groundbreaking study shows that many of these environmental ethicists continue to model their positions on romantic, pre-Darwinian concepts that disregard the predatory and cruelly competitive realities of the natural world. Examining the work of such influential thinkers as James Gustafson, Sallie McFague, Rosemary Radford Ruether, John Cobb, Peter Singer, and Holmes Rolston, Sideris proposes a more realistic ethic that combines evolutionary theory with theological insight, advocates a minimally interventionist stance toward nature, and values the processes over the products of the natural world.

241.65*7 --- Selection, Natural --- Theologische ethiek: natuur; ecologie --- 241.65*7 Theologische ethiek: natuur; ecologie --- -Theologische ethiek: natuur; ecologie --- -Darwinism --- Environmental ethics --- Human ecology --- Natural selection --- Darwinism --- Genetics --- Variation (Biology) --- Biological invasions --- Evolution (Biology) --- Heredity --- Environmental quality --- Ethics --- Ecotheology --- Religious aspects --- Moral and ethical aspects --- Environmental ethics. --- Natural selection. --- Religious aspects. --- Human ecology - Religious aspects.

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Nature's Magic, first published in 2003, presents a bold vision of the evolutionary process from the Big Bang to the 21st century. Synergy of various kinds is not only a ubiquitous aspect of the natural world but it has also been a wellspring of creativity and the 'driver' of the broad evolutionary trend toward increased complexity, in nature and human societies alike. But in contrast with the many theories of emergence or complexity that rely on some underlying force or 'law', the 'Synergism Hypothesis', as Peter Corning calls it, is in essence an economic theory of biological complexity; it is fully consistent with mainstream evolutionary biology. Corning refers to it as Holistic Darwinism. Among the many important insights that are provided by this new paradigm, Corning presents a scenario in which the human species invented itself; synergistic, behavioral and technological innovations were the 'pacemakers' of our biological evolution. Synergy has also been the key to the evolution of complex modern societies, he concludes.

Evolution (Biology). --- Human evolution. --- Evolution (Biology) --- Human evolution --- Evolution --- Biology --- Health & Biological Sciences --- Physical anthropology --- Evolutionary psychology --- Human beings --- Animal evolution --- Animals --- Biological evolution --- Darwinism --- Evolutionary biology --- Evolutionary science --- Origin of species --- Biological fitness --- Homoplasy --- Natural selection --- Phylogeny --- Origin

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In this groundbreaking book, Lynn Margulis and Dorion Sagan present an answer to one of the enduring mysteries of evolution — the source of inherited variation that gives rise to new species. Random genetic mutation, long believed to be the main source of variation, is only a marginal factor. As the authors demonstrate in this book, the more important source of speciation, by far, is the acquisition of new genomes by symbiotic merger. The result of thirty years of delving into a vast, mostly arcane literature, this is the first book to go beyond — and reveal the severe limitations of — the “Modern Synthesis” that has dominated evolutionary biology for almost three generations. Lynn Margulis, whom E. O. Wilson called “one of the most successful synthetic thinkers in modern biology,” and her co-author Dorion Sagan have written a comprehensive and scientifically supported presentation of a theory that directly challenges the assumptions we hold about the variety of the living world. (Provided by publisher)

Evolution (Biology). --- Species. --- Symbiogenesis. --- Species --- Symbiogenesis --- Evolution (Biology) --- Biological Evolution --- Genetic Variation --- Mutagenesis --- Selection, Genetic --- Symbiosis --- #SBIB:316.21H42 --- #SBIB:316.334.3M13 --- Theoretische sociologie: sociobiologie --- Medische sociologie: aanverwante disciplines --- Commensalism --- Mutualism --- Endosymbiosis --- Mycorrhizae --- Endophytes --- Genetic Selection --- Natural Selection --- Selection, Natural --- Genetic Fitness --- Mutageneses --- Mutation Accumulation --- Mutagens --- Mutation --- Teratogenesis --- Diversity, Genetic --- Genetic Diversity --- Variation, Genetic --- Diversities, Genetic --- Genetic Diversities --- Genetic Variations --- Variations, Genetic --- Biological Variation, Population --- Evolution, Biological --- Sociobiology --- Speciation (Biology) --- Biology --- Genetics --- Hybridization --- Organisms --- Animal evolution --- Animals --- Biological evolution --- Darwinism --- Evolutionary biology --- Evolutionary science --- Origin of species --- Evolution --- Biological fitness --- Homoplasy --- Natural selection --- Phylogeny