[evo.theory] Talk this Wednesday

[Ben Jeffares]

Brett Calcott will be giving a talk this Wednesday at BoZo.

All are welcome.

1PM WEDNESDAY 7th MARCH 2007
BOTANY & ZOOLOGY SEMINAR ROOM, BUILDING 116, ANU

Patterns of Explanation & Evolutionary Developmental Biology
Brett Calcott
Philosophy Program, Research School of Social Sciences and
Centre for Macroevolution & Macroecology, School of Botany & Zoology
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

Different biological disciplines often seek to explain the very same
phenomena in very different ways.  I distinguish a pattern of
explanation that is prevalent in  Evo-Devo (evolutionary developmental
biology), though it has also been used to explain adaptive complexity.
I show how this type of explanation differs from both "proximate" and
"ultimate" style explanations in biology and discuss why these kinds
of explanation may sometimes generate conflict between those
interested in understanding how evolutionary change took place. I
illustrate this explanatory pattern with some examples: the evolution
of the eye, and the evolution of the feather.