Evolutionary Causation

"Most scientific explanations are causal. This is also the case in evolutionary biology, where the primary goals are to explain the diversity of life and the adaptive fit between organisms and their surroundings. Despite the central role of the nature of causation in evolutionary biology, the outstanding issues are rarely addressed. Evolutionary biology textbooks, for instance, hardly ever cover this topic. This edited volume brings together biologists and philosophers of science to provide a comprehensive treatment of evolutionary causation. The contributions clarify the nature of causation in the historical and contemporary representation of evolution, specify alternative perspectives and reveal their underlying assumptions, and seek ways of thinking about causation that will be helpful to formulate research programs in evolutionary biology. The volume will help to understand the historical roots of the contemporary view of evolutionary causation, the biological motivation for rethinking the nature of causation in evolutionary biology, and conceptual analysis of these phenomena in the broader context of the philosophy of causation"--