Elisabeth (Lisa) Lloyd does philosophy of biology, evolutionary theory, and philosophy of climate science, as well as research in sexology. Supervisors: Bas Van Fraassen and Richard C. Lewontin
Is the female orgasm adaptive? This is the main question that Lloyd raises in her book and like a... more Is the female orgasm adaptive? This is the main question that Lloyd raises in her book and like all good questions, it raises a host more. What counts as an adaptation? How should we define orgasm in females (by which Lloyd explicitly means human wo-men)? How should we distinguish between evolutionary accounts of female orgasm and of the clitoris? Lloyd’s book is a fascinating philosophical and statistical analysis of the various methods and rationales with which biologists have argued for the adaptive value of female orgasm in the last forty years. The Case of the Female Orgasm also contributes to a variety of recent discussions in the history and philosophy of biology – from the separate evolutionary interests of males and females, to the value of anthropomorphism as an analytical tool in the study of human biology, and the rela-tionship of biologists ’ social values and their biological conclusions. As Lloyd explains at the outset, the main question she addresses in the book is n...
<jats:p>The biological theory of evolution advances the view that the variety and forms of ... more <jats:p>The biological theory of evolution advances the view that the variety and forms of life on earth are the result of descent with modification from the earliest forms of life. Evolutionary theory does not attempt to explain the origin of life itself, that is, how the earliest forms of life came to exist, nor does it apply to the history of changes of the non-biological parts of the universe, which are also often described as 'evolutionary'. The mechanisms of natural selection, mutation and speciation are used in evolutionary theory to explain the relations and characteristics of all life forms. Modern evolutionary theory explains a wide range of natural phenomena, including the deep resemblances among organisms, the diversity of life forms, organisms' possession of vestigial organs and the good fit or 'adaptedness' between organisms and their environment.</jats:p> <jats:p>Often summarized as 'survival of the fittest', the mechanism of natural selection actually includes several distinct processes. There must be variation in traits among the members of a population; these traits must be passed on from parents to offspring; and the different traits must confer differential advantage for reproducing successfully in that environment. Because evidence for each of these processes can be gathered independently of the evolutionary claim, natural selection scenarios are robustly testable. When a trait in a population has arisen because it was directly selected in this fashion, it is called an adaptation.</jats:p> <jats:p>Genetic mutation is the originating source of variation, and selection processes shape that variation into adaptive forms; random genetic drift and various levels and forms of selection dynamic developed by geneticists have been integrated into a general theory of evolutionary change that encompasses natural selection and genetic mutation as complementary processes. Detailed ecological studies are used to provide evidence for selection scenarios involving the evolution of species in the wild.</jats:p> <jats:p>Evolutionary theory is supported by an unusually wide range of scientific evidence, gaining its support from fields as diverse as geology, embryology, molecular genetics, palaeontology, climatology and functional morphology. Because of tensions between an evolutionary view of homo sapiens and some religious beliefs, evolutionary theory has remained controversial in the public sphere far longer than no less well-supported scientific theories from other sciences.</jats:p>
Modern science’s ability to produce, store, and analyze big datasets is changing the way that sci... more Modern science’s ability to produce, store, and analyze big datasets is changing the way that scientific research is practiced. Philosophers have only begun to comprehend the changed nature of scientific reasoning in this age of “big data.” We analyze data-focused practices in biology and climate modeling, identifying distinct species of data-centric science: phenomena-laden in biology and phenomena-agnostic in climate modeling, each better suited for its own domain of application, though each entail trade-offs. We argue that data-centric practices in science are not monolithic because the opportunities and challenges presented by big data vary across scientific domains.
In this brief chapter, Lloyd sets the stage for the following three papers, most centrally, Sante... more In this brief chapter, Lloyd sets the stage for the following three papers, most centrally, Santer et al. (2008a), which discusses whether the satellite data fit with climate models. Its target is a paper by Douglass et al. (Douglass DH, Christy JR, Pearson BD, Singer SF, A comparison of tropical temperature trends with model predictions. Int J Climatology 28:1693–1701, 2008), which claimed that satellite and weather balloon data showed that the climate models were wrong and could not be trusted. The Santer and Wigley “Fact Sheet” (Chap. 4) gives a nontechnical summary of what is wrong with the Douglass paper, while the full story is in Chap. 5, a reprint of the Santer et al. (2008a) paper. The context and import of this work is discussed in Lloyd (Chap. 6). In this introduction, Lloyd emphasizes the timeliness of this work, as climate deniers testify in Congress presently.
<jats:p>Of the many kinds of things that serve as 'models', all function fundamenta... more <jats:p>Of the many kinds of things that serve as 'models', all function fundamentally as representations of what we wish to understand or to be or to do. Model aeroplanes and other scale models share selected structural properties with their originals, while differing in other properties, such as construction materials and size. Analogue models, which resemble their originals in some aspect of structure or internal relations, are important in the sciences, because they can facilitate inferences about complicated or obscure natural systems. A collection of billiard balls in random motion is an analogue model of an ideal gas; the interactions and motions of the billiard balls are taken to represent – to be analogous to – the interactions and motions of molecules in the gas.</jats:p> <jats:p>In mathematical logic, a model is a structure – an arrangement of objects – which represents a theory expressed as a set of sentences. The various terms of the sentences of the theory are mapped onto objects and their relations in the structure; a model is a structure that makes all of the sentences in the theory true. This specialized notion of model has been adopted by philosophers of science; on a 'structuralist' or 'semantic' conception, scientific theories are understood as structures which are used to represent real systems in nature. Philosophical debates have arisen regarding the precise extent of the resemblances between scientific models and the natural systems they represent.</jats:p>
Is the female orgasm adaptive? This is the main question that Lloyd raises in her book and like a... more Is the female orgasm adaptive? This is the main question that Lloyd raises in her book and like all good questions, it raises a host more. What counts as an adaptation? How should we define orgasm in females (by which Lloyd explicitly means human wo-men)? How should we distinguish between evolutionary accounts of female orgasm and of the clitoris? Lloyd’s book is a fascinating philosophical and statistical analysis of the various methods and rationales with which biologists have argued for the adaptive value of female orgasm in the last forty years. The Case of the Female Orgasm also contributes to a variety of recent discussions in the history and philosophy of biology – from the separate evolutionary interests of males and females, to the value of anthropomorphism as an analytical tool in the study of human biology, and the rela-tionship of biologists ’ social values and their biological conclusions. As Lloyd explains at the outset, the main question she addresses in the book is n...
<jats:p>The biological theory of evolution advances the view that the variety and forms of ... more <jats:p>The biological theory of evolution advances the view that the variety and forms of life on earth are the result of descent with modification from the earliest forms of life. Evolutionary theory does not attempt to explain the origin of life itself, that is, how the earliest forms of life came to exist, nor does it apply to the history of changes of the non-biological parts of the universe, which are also often described as 'evolutionary'. The mechanisms of natural selection, mutation and speciation are used in evolutionary theory to explain the relations and characteristics of all life forms. Modern evolutionary theory explains a wide range of natural phenomena, including the deep resemblances among organisms, the diversity of life forms, organisms' possession of vestigial organs and the good fit or 'adaptedness' between organisms and their environment.</jats:p> <jats:p>Often summarized as 'survival of the fittest', the mechanism of natural selection actually includes several distinct processes. There must be variation in traits among the members of a population; these traits must be passed on from parents to offspring; and the different traits must confer differential advantage for reproducing successfully in that environment. Because evidence for each of these processes can be gathered independently of the evolutionary claim, natural selection scenarios are robustly testable. When a trait in a population has arisen because it was directly selected in this fashion, it is called an adaptation.</jats:p> <jats:p>Genetic mutation is the originating source of variation, and selection processes shape that variation into adaptive forms; random genetic drift and various levels and forms of selection dynamic developed by geneticists have been integrated into a general theory of evolutionary change that encompasses natural selection and genetic mutation as complementary processes. Detailed ecological studies are used to provide evidence for selection scenarios involving the evolution of species in the wild.</jats:p> <jats:p>Evolutionary theory is supported by an unusually wide range of scientific evidence, gaining its support from fields as diverse as geology, embryology, molecular genetics, palaeontology, climatology and functional morphology. Because of tensions between an evolutionary view of homo sapiens and some religious beliefs, evolutionary theory has remained controversial in the public sphere far longer than no less well-supported scientific theories from other sciences.</jats:p>
Modern science’s ability to produce, store, and analyze big datasets is changing the way that sci... more Modern science’s ability to produce, store, and analyze big datasets is changing the way that scientific research is practiced. Philosophers have only begun to comprehend the changed nature of scientific reasoning in this age of “big data.” We analyze data-focused practices in biology and climate modeling, identifying distinct species of data-centric science: phenomena-laden in biology and phenomena-agnostic in climate modeling, each better suited for its own domain of application, though each entail trade-offs. We argue that data-centric practices in science are not monolithic because the opportunities and challenges presented by big data vary across scientific domains.
In this brief chapter, Lloyd sets the stage for the following three papers, most centrally, Sante... more In this brief chapter, Lloyd sets the stage for the following three papers, most centrally, Santer et al. (2008a), which discusses whether the satellite data fit with climate models. Its target is a paper by Douglass et al. (Douglass DH, Christy JR, Pearson BD, Singer SF, A comparison of tropical temperature trends with model predictions. Int J Climatology 28:1693–1701, 2008), which claimed that satellite and weather balloon data showed that the climate models were wrong and could not be trusted. The Santer and Wigley “Fact Sheet” (Chap. 4) gives a nontechnical summary of what is wrong with the Douglass paper, while the full story is in Chap. 5, a reprint of the Santer et al. (2008a) paper. The context and import of this work is discussed in Lloyd (Chap. 6). In this introduction, Lloyd emphasizes the timeliness of this work, as climate deniers testify in Congress presently.
<jats:p>Of the many kinds of things that serve as 'models', all function fundamenta... more <jats:p>Of the many kinds of things that serve as 'models', all function fundamentally as representations of what we wish to understand or to be or to do. Model aeroplanes and other scale models share selected structural properties with their originals, while differing in other properties, such as construction materials and size. Analogue models, which resemble their originals in some aspect of structure or internal relations, are important in the sciences, because they can facilitate inferences about complicated or obscure natural systems. A collection of billiard balls in random motion is an analogue model of an ideal gas; the interactions and motions of the billiard balls are taken to represent – to be analogous to – the interactions and motions of molecules in the gas.</jats:p> <jats:p>In mathematical logic, a model is a structure – an arrangement of objects – which represents a theory expressed as a set of sentences. The various terms of the sentences of the theory are mapped onto objects and their relations in the structure; a model is a structure that makes all of the sentences in the theory true. This specialized notion of model has been adopted by philosophers of science; on a 'structuralist' or 'semantic' conception, scientific theories are understood as structures which are used to represent real systems in nature. Philosophical debates have arisen regarding the precise extent of the resemblances between scientific models and the natural systems they represent.</jats:p>
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