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The economy of nature: the structure of evolution in Linnaeus, Darwin, and the modern synthesis

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Pence, Charles H. [UCL] Swaim, Daniel G.

We argue that the economy of nature constitutes an invocation of structure in the biological sciences, one largely missed by philosophers of biology despite the turn in recent years toward structural explanations throughout the philosophy of science. We trace a portion of the history of this concept, beginning with the theologically and economically grounded work of Linnaeus, moving through Darwin’s adaptation of the economy of nature and its reconstitution in genetic terms during the first decades of the Modern Synthesis. What this historical case study reveals, we argue, is a window into the shifting landscape of the explanatory and ontic uses of structural concepts. In Linnaeus, the economy of nature has both ontic and explanatory import; in Darwin the ontic and explanatory aspects start to come apart (with the explanatory aspect being foregrounded); and finally, in the Modern Synthesis, the economy of nature is replaced by the conceptual toolkit of population genetics, the structural elements of which are nearly entirely explanatory. Having traced a historical trajectory of structural concepts that moves from an ontic formulation to an increasingly explanatory one, we conclude by outlining some insights for structural realism.

Document type Article de périodique (Journal article) – Article de recherche
Access type Accès libre
Publication date 2018
Language Anglais
Journal information "European Journal for Philosophy of Science" - Vol. 8, no.3, p. 435-454 (2017)
Peer reviewed yes
Publisher Springer Netherlands (Dordrecht)
issn 1879-4912
e-issn 1879-4920
Publication status Publié
Affiliation UCL - SSH/ISP - Institut supérieur de philosophie
Keywords History and Philosophy of Science
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Bibliographic reference Pence, Charles H. ; Swaim, Daniel G.. The economy of nature: the structure of evolution in Linnaeus, Darwin, and the modern synthesis. In: European Journal for Philosophy of Science, Vol. 8, no.3, p. 435-454 (2017)
Permanent URL http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/202856