Puzzles for ZFEL, McShea and Brandon's zero force evolutionary law

Martin Barrett; Hayley Clatterbuck; Michael Goldsby; Casey Helgeson; Brian McLoone; Trevor Pearce; Elliott Sober; Reuben Stern; Naftali Weinberger

doi:10.1007/s10539-012-9321-7

Puzzles for ZFEL, McShea and Brandon's zero force evolutionary law

Martin Barrett
, Hayley Clatterbuck
, Michael Goldsby
, Casey Helgeson
, Brian McLoone
, Trevor Pearce
, Elliott Sober
, Reuben Stern
, Naftali Weinberger

Earth and Environmental Systems Institute

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

14 Scopus citations

Abstract

In their 2010 book, Biology's First Law, D. McShea and R. Brandon present a principle that they call "ZFEL," the zero force evolutionary law. ZFEL says (roughly) that when there are no evolutionary forces acting on a population, the population's complexity (i. e., how diverse its member organisms are) will increase. Here we develop criticisms of ZFEL and describe a different law of evolution; it says that diversity and complexity do not change when there are no evolutionary causes.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	723-735
Number of pages	13
Journal	Biology and Philosophy
Volume	27
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10539-012-9321-7
State	Published - Sep 2012

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Philosophy
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences
History and Philosophy of Science

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10.1007/s10539-012-9321-7

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AU - Barrett, Martin

AU - Clatterbuck, Hayley

AU - Goldsby, Michael

AU - Helgeson, Casey

AU - McLoone, Brian

AU - Pearce, Trevor

AU - Sober, Elliott

AU - Stern, Reuben

AU - Weinberger, Naftali

PY - 2012/9

Y1 - 2012/9

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AB - In their 2010 book, Biology's First Law, D. McShea and R. Brandon present a principle that they call "ZFEL," the zero force evolutionary law. ZFEL says (roughly) that when there are no evolutionary forces acting on a population, the population's complexity (i. e., how diverse its member organisms are) will increase. Here we develop criticisms of ZFEL and describe a different law of evolution; it says that diversity and complexity do not change when there are no evolutionary causes.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84865416183

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84865416183#tab=citedBy

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DO - 10.1007/s10539-012-9321-7

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SP - 723

EP - 735

JO - Biology and Philosophy

JF - Biology and Philosophy

IS - 5

ER -

Puzzles for ZFEL, McShea and Brandon's zero force evolutionary law

Abstract

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