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Classical population genetics and the semantic approach to scientific theories

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Abstract

In what follows, I argue that the semantic approach to scientific theories fails as a means to present the Wright–Fisher formalism (WFF) of population genetics. I offer an account of what population geneticist understand insofar as they understand the WFF, a variation on Lloyd’s view that population genetics can be understood as a family of models of mid-level generality.

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  1. Lafayette College, Easton, PA, USA

    Peter Gildenhuys

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  1. Peter Gildenhuys
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Correspondence to Peter Gildenhuys.

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Gildenhuys, P. Classical population genetics and the semantic approach to scientific theories. Synthese 190, 273–291 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-012-0146-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-012-0146-3

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