Pattern as Observation: Darwin’s ‘Great Facts’ of Geographical Distribution

European Journal for Philosophy of Science 7 (2):337-351 (2017)
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Abstract

Among philosophical analyses of Darwin’s Origin, a standard view says the theory presented there had no concrete observational consequences against which it might be checked. I challenge this idea with a new analysis of Darwin’s principal geographical distribution observations and how they connect to his common ancestry hypothesis.

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10.1007/s13194-016-0164-y

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Casey Helgeson
Pennsylvania State University

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The best explanation: Criteria for theory choice.Paul R. Thagard - 1978 - Journal of Philosophy 75 (2):76-92.
Unification, explanation, and the composition of causes in Newtonian mechanics.Malcolm R. Forster - 1988 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 19 (1):55-101.

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