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Quote by Elliott Sober

“Scientists often seek predictively accurate models, rather than models that are true.”

Quote by Elliott Sober

Author

Elliott Sober is a renowned American philosopher known for his work in the fields of scientific philosophy and epistemology. His research focuses on scientific reasoning, probability interpretation, and philosophical methodology. Born on June 6, 1948, Sober has made significant contributions to the field of philosophy, particularly in scientific philosophy. more

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“Unfortunately, philosophers of science usually regard scientific realism and scientific anti-realism as monistic doctrines. The assumption is that there is one goal of all scientific inference - finding propositions that are true, or finding propositions that are predictively accurate. In fact, there are multiple goals. Sometimes realism is the right interpretation of a scientific problem, while at other times instrumentalism is.”

Sometimes Facts Problem Goal Findings Regard Philosopher Doctrine Assumption Interpretation Accurate Realism Multiple Propositions Inference

Author:Elliott Sober

“I have spent a lot of time arguing that the theory of group selection is not the stupid, pernicious doctrine that many biologists once claimed it to be. The theory is not just conceptually coherent; there are adaptations out there in nature (like reduced virulence in some viruses) that evolved because there was group selection.”

Groups Stupid Theory Arguing Doctrine Selection Adaptation Viruses Pernicious Biologist

Author:Elliott Sober

“Our own species evolved under the influence of group selection, as Darwin emphasized when he discussed the evolution of altruism.”

Groups Influence Evolution Species Altruism Selection

Author:Elliott Sober

“Group selection and individual selection are just two of the selection processes that have played important roles in evolution. There also is selection within individual organisms (intragenomic conflict), and selection among multi-species communities (an idea that now is getting attention in work on the human microbiome). All four of these levels of selection find a place in multi-level selection theory.”

Humans Two Important Ideas Individual Process Community Levels Attention Roles Four Groups Theory Evolution Conflict Species Organisms Selection

Author:Elliott Sober

“The rabid opposition to group selection has now considerably subsided. In the process, the conceptual structure of evolutionary theory has become clearer, as have the relationships that connect different theoretical approaches.”

Different Process Groups Theory Approach Structure Opposition Selection Theoretical

Author:Elliott Sober

“Evolutionary game theory was originally developed as an alternative to the hypothesis of group selection; now it is clear that game theory models postulate group selection, even if they do not use the g-word.”

Ifs Use Games Clear Groups Theory Models Alternatives Hypothesis Selection

Author:Elliott Sober

“One influential philosophical position about the use of probability in science holds that probabilities are objective only if they are based on micro-physics; all other probabilities should be interpreted subjectively, as merely revealing our ignorance about physical details. I have argued against this position, contending that the objectivity of micro-physical probabilities entails the objectivity of macro-probabilities.”

Ifs Should Use Position Ignorance Philosophical Details Physics Objectives Probability Revealing Influential Objectivity Contending Macro

Author:Elliott Sober

“Darwin repeatedly used the hypothesis of common ancestry as a platform on which to build his various ideas about testing hypotheses concerning natural selection. He also argued that adaptive similarities provide little or no evidence for common ancestry. Although this second claim needs to be fine-tuned, Darwin was right that ample evidence for common ancestry can exist even if none of the characteristics we observe were caused to evolve by natural selection.”

Ifs Needs Littles Ideas Used Natural Common Fine Evidence Claims Various Evolve Characteristics Platforms Hypothesis Selection Testing Similarity Natural Selection Ancestry Adaptive

Author:Elliott Sober

“The big picture, I think, is that common ancestry is evidentially prior to natural selection in Darwin's theory and in contemporary evolutionary biology as well.”

Thinking Wells Bigs Natural Common Theory Contemporary Biology Selection Natural Selection Ancestry Big Picture Evolutionary Biology

Author:Elliott Sober

“If the organisms in a species now have trait T, and this trait now helps those organisms to survive and reproduce because the trait has effect E, a natural hypothesis to consider is that T evolved in the lineage leading to those current organisms because T had effect E. This hypothesis is "natural," but it often isn't true!”

Ifs Helping Natural Effects Species Currents Traits Organisms Hypothesis Lineage

Author:Elliott Sober