Books by "G. Ledyard Stebbins"
5 books found
This 2001 book provides a selective annotated bibliography of the principal floras and related works of inventory for vascular plants. The second edition was completely updated and expanded to take into account the substantial literature of the late twentieth century, and features a more fully developed review of the history of floristic documentation. The works covered are principally specialist publications such as floras, checklists, distribution atlases, systematic iconographies and enumerations or catalogues, although a relatively few more popularly oriented books are also included. The Guide is organised in ten geographical divisions, with these successively divided into regions and units, each of which is prefaced with a historical review of floristic studies. In addition to the bibliography, the book includes general chapters on botanical bibliography, the history of floras, and general principles and current trends, plus an appendix on bibliographic searching, a lexicon of serial abbreviations, and author and geographical indexes.
It has been said that new discoveries and developments in the human, social, and natural sciences hang “in the air” (Bowler, 1983; 2008) prior to their consummation. While neo-Darwinist biology has been powerfully served by its mechanistic metaphysic and a reductionist methodology in which living organisms are considered machines, many of the chapters in this volume place this paradigm into question. Pairing scientists and philosophers together, this volume explores what might be termed “the New Frontiers” of biology, namely contemporary areas of research that appear to call an updating, a supplementation, or a relaxation of some of the main tenets of the Modern Synthesis. Such areas of investigation include: Emergence Theory, Systems Biology, Biosemiotics, Homeostasis, Symbiogenesis, Niche Construction, the Theory of Organic Selection (also known as “the Baldwin Effect”), Self-Organization and Teleodynamics, as well as Epigenetics. Most of the chapters in this book offer critical reflections on the neo-Darwinist outlook and work to promote a novel synthesis that is open to a greater degree of inclusivity as well as to a more holistic orientation in the biological sciences.
Nature, Human Nature, and God
by Ian G. Barbour
Ian Barbour offers analyses of the shape and import of evolutionary theory, indeterminacy, neuroscience, information theory, and artificial intelligence. He also addresses deeper philosophical issues and the idea of nature itself. Then Barbour advances to the interconnected religious questions at the core of contemporary debate: Are humans free? Does religion itself evolve? Are we immortal? Is God omnipotent? How does God act in nature? Barbour's work offers hope that newer religious insights and imperatives occasioned by deep interaction with science can address the environmental and global challenges posed by the relentless advance of science.
Historically, the scientific method has been said to require proposing a theory, making a prediction of something not already known, testing the prediction, and giving up the theory (or substantially changing it) if it fails the test. A theory that leads to several successful predictions is more likely to be accepted than one that only explains what is already known but not understood. This process is widely treated as the conventional method of achieving scientific progress, and was used throughout the twentieth century as the standard route to discovery and experimentation. But does science really work this way? In Making 20th Century Science, Stephen G. Brush discusses this question, as it relates to the development of science throughout the last century. Answering this question requires both a philosophically and historically scientific approach, and Brush blends the two in order to take a close look at how scientific methodology has developed. Several cases from the history of modern physical and biological science are examined, including Mendeleev's Periodic Law, Kekule's structure for benzene, the light-quantum hypothesis, quantum mechanics, chromosome theory, and natural selection. In general it is found that theories are accepted for a combination of successful predictions and better explanations of old facts. Making 20th Century Science is a large-scale historical look at the implementation of the scientific method, and how scientific theories come to be accepted.