Similarities as evidence for common ancestry: a likelihood epistemology

DOI10.1093/BJPS/AXV052MaRDI QIDQ4554989zbMATH OpenOpenAlexWikidataFDO

Authors Elliott Sober, Mike Steel

Publication date 19 November 2018

Published in The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1501.04665

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Applications of statistics to biology and medical sciences; meta analysis (62P10) Problems related to evolution (92D15)

Abstract: Darwin claims in the {em Origin} that similarity is evidence for common ancestry, but that adaptive similarities are "almost valueless" as evidence. This claim seems reasonable for some adaptive similarities but not for others. Here we clarify and evaluate these and related matters by using the law of likelihood as an analytic tool and by considering mathematical models of three evolutionary processes -- directional selection, stabilizing selection, and drift. Our results apply both to Darwin's theory of evolution and to modern evolutionary biology.

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Cited in

(3)

• How probable is common ancestry according to different evolutionary processes?
• Common Ancestry and Natural Selection
• Bayesian support for evolution: detecting phylogenetic signal in a subset of the primate family

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