Mathematical Contributions To The Theory Of Evolution

Sir Francis Galton was an influential mentor for the educational psychologists who supplied crucial doctrine to American eugenics from 1903 to 1930. Yet the nature of his influence has never been specified. The psychologists' own claim as to the Galton's contribution -- that he provided sufficient justification for their absolutist hereditarianism -- was clearly disingenuous. Rather, he appears to have functioned as a model for these figures, who were informed by their perceptions of Galton's ulterior purposes in constructing eugenics as he did. Any of various features in the 45-year-long course of that development could have encouraged these particular legatees to appreciate both Galton and his product as surreptitious stanchers of democracy.

An international group of distinguished scientists presents an up-to-date survey of quantitative problems at the forefront of modern evolutionary theory. Their articles illustrate results from the latest research in population and behavioral genetics, molecular evolution, and ecology. Each author gives careful attention to the exposition of the models, the logic of their analysis, and the legitimacy of qualitative biological inferences. The topics covered include stochastic models of finite populations and the sorts of diffusion approximations that are valid for their study, models of migration, kin selection, geneculture coevolution, sexual selection, life-history evolution, the statistics of linkage disequilibrium, and the molecular evolution of repeated DNA sequences and the HLA system in humans. The fourteen contributions are presented in two sections: Part I, Stochastic and Deterministic Genetic Theory, and Part II, Behavior, Ecology, and Evolutionary Genetics. Marcus W. Feldman provides an introduction to each part. The contributors are J. G. Bodmer, W. F. Bodmer, L. L. Cavalli Sforza, F. B. Christiansen, C. Cockerham, W. J. Ewens, M. W. Feldman, J. H. Gillespie, R. R. Hudson, N. L. Kaplan, S. Lessard, U. Liberman, M.E.N. Majerus, P. O'Donald, J. Roughgarden, S. Tavar, M. K. Uyenoyama, G. A. Watterson, and B. Weir. Originally published in 1989. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

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