Evidence and Evolution: The Logic Behind the Science | 
| Author: Elliott Sober
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Category: Book
List Price: $29.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 167292
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 412
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 6 x 1.1
ISBN: 0521692741
Dewey Decimal Number: 576.8
EAN: 9780521692748
ASIN: 0521692741
Publication Date: April 21, 2008
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Product Description
How should the concept of evidence be understood? And how does the concept of evidence apply to the controversy about creationism as well as to work in evolutionary biology about natural selection and common ancestry? In this rich and wide-ranging book, Elliott Sober investigates general questions about probability and evidence and shows how the answers he develops to those questions apply to the specifics of evolutionary biology. Drawing on a set of fascinating examples, he analyzes whether claims about intelligent design are untestable; whether they are discredited by the fact that many adaptations are imperfect; how evidence bears on whether present species trace back to common ancestors; how hypotheses about natural selection can be tested, and many other issues. His book will interest all readers who want to understand philosophical questions about evidence and evolution, as they arise both in Darwin's work and in contemporary biological research.
Book Description
How should the concept of evidence be understood? And how does it apply to the controversy surrounding creationism, natural selection and common ancestry? Elliott Sober investigates general questions about probability and evidence and shows how the answers he develops to those questions apply to the specifics of evolutionary biology.
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| Customer Reviews:
A Technical Jungle June 18, 2008
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
This is a very technical book on the application of various theories of probabilities (Bayesian, likelihood theory etc)in respect of the claims of "Intelligent Design" and the theory of evolution. It is a matter of academic interest whether Elliot Sober's arguments are correct because they are couched in the technical language of symbolic logic. Insofar as one can understand the general drift, he appears to have shown that the Intelligent Design argument is founded on very weak evidence (including evidence to even support the theory). Sober then tried to apply the same formula in respect of evidence concerning the theory of evolution (and natural selection) and concluded, through a series of logical exercises, that the evidence may not be as conclusive as the evolutionary scientists would like us to believe. One of the main theses of Elliot Sober in this book is that there are many ways of ascertaining truth. He thinks that just because Intelligent Design is a flawed hypothesis does not mean that the existence of God has not been proved. But similarly, even if evolutionary theory is flawed (as Sober tires to show) it does not mean that God, therefore, exists. The existence or otherwise of a theistic being is a matter that is examined from many more viewpoints than just the evolutionary theory. I think that unless you are interested in formal logic, and want to test Sober's technical declarations and exercises, you may find this a difficult book to grind through.
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