Philosophy of Biology: Evolution, Darwin, Teleology, Species, and the Gene
The philosophy of biology examines the concepts, methods, and explanations of the life sciences. Questions that look technical conceal long-standing philosophical problems: what does it mean to say that the heart is for pumping blood? On what, exactly, does natural selection act: the gene, the organism, the group? Are there species, or only similar individuals that we classify for convenience? Can biology be reduced to chemistry, and can evolution tell us anything about good and evil? ...