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SUMMARY:“Cause and effect in biology revisited” - Prof Kevin Laland (S
 chool of Biology\, University of St Andrews)
DTSTART:20130313T123000Z
DTEND:20130313T133000Z
UID:TALK43006@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Diane Pearce
DESCRIPTION:In 1961\, Ernst Mayr published a highly influential article on
  the nature of causation in biology\, in which he distinguished between pr
 oximate and ultimate causes. Mayr argued that proximate causes (e.g. physi
 ological factors) and ultimate causes (e.g. natural selection) addressed d
 istinct 'how' and 'why' questions and were not competing alternatives. Her
 e I will argue that the distinction between cause and function is importan
 t\, and retains explanatory value\, but that it can be made without Mayr
 ’s terminology\, which is also ambiguous\, dated and brings with it inte
 llectual baggage. The adoption of Mayr's heuristic led to the widespread b
 elief that ontogenetic processes are irrelevant to evolutionary questions\
 , a belief that has hindered progress within evolutionary biology\, forged
  divisions between evolutionary biology and adjacent disciplines\, and adv
 ersely affected several contemporary debates in biology (e.g. over evoluti
 on and development\, niche construction\, cooperation\, the evolution of l
 anguage). In this talk I will expand on my collaborators’ and my earlier
  (Laland et al.\, 2011\, Science\, 334: 1512-16) argument that Mayr's dich
 otomous formulation has now run its useful course\, and that evolutionary 
 biology would be better served by a concept of reciprocal causation\, whic
 h is better placed to recognize the roles that behavior\, development and 
 plasticity play in evolution.
LOCATION:Library\, Sub-Department of Animal Behaviour\, Madingley
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