PHIL 261 Final: Notes from whole course - final review

• School: University of Maryland
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: PHIL 261
• Professor: Lane Des Autels

Document Summary

Gould: questions whether or not species are real/a natural occurrence or if man arbitrarily separated them (like state borders), darwin v. creationism: argument, the answer to this matters for epa policies on what species to protect, 1. If creationism is true, god created unchanging species: 2. Natural selection shows all species are related by common descent: 3. Given (2), species can"t be unchanging: 4. **gould denies 2 and proposes punctuated equilibrium: evolution happens quickly at the point when a new branch (new, species are objectified by two criteria: species) first forms, 1. Historical = unique and separate branches on nature"s bush: 2. Functional = population of actually or potentially reproducing organisms sharing a common gene pool: problems: With (1) : difficult epistemologically (how do you know?, horizontal gene transfer, genetic similarity may exist on separate branches. With (2) : asexually reproducing organisms, when members of a species cannot mate, when different species can mate with each other, hybridization.