If we were to ask the question, "why does organism X develop/behave as it does?" or, "why does organism X give rise (through e.g. sexual reproduction) to an organism that is similar to itself?" we have two broad types of explanation: the localised and the distributed. These, and other questions addressed in developmental and evolutionary biology, I characterise as problems of biology. Localised causal explanations (LCEs) focus on the identification of an entity (localised in space) or event (localised in time) responsible for the phenomenon to be explained. Distributed causal explanations (DCEs) have tended to focus on the identification of (often global) properties or features (distributed in space) or processes (distributed in time) responsible for the phenomenon to be explained.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:501266 |
| Date | January 2009 |
| Creators | Davies, Jonathan |
| Publisher | University of Exeter |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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