This Element discusses the central role of models within evolutionary biology, offering an accessible introduction and synthesis of literature in both evolutionary biology and the philosophy of models. We will examine three questions: first, what does it mean to be a 'model' and to engage in 'modelling'? Second, what types of models are employed within evolutionary biology? Third, how can models of evolution be tested? In exploring the answers to these questions, this Element hopes to high...

Are zoos an anachronism in the 21st century when we can watch animals in their natural habitat, close-up from our couches without worrying about cruelty? Should they go the way of other bygone era ‘spectacles’ and ‘attractions’ that we now regard as barbaric? There are vocal campaigners and activists who believe so.Heather Browning and Walter Veit disagree, but they acknowledge there is a case to be answered. In What are Zoos for? they test the common justifications for zoos (enter...

This book attempts to advance Donald Griffin's vision of the "final, crowning chapter of the Darwinian revolution" by developing a philosophy for the science of animal consciousness. It advocates a Darwinian bottom-up approach that treats consciousness as a complex, evolved, and multidimensional phenomenon in nature rather than a mysterious all-or-nothing property immune to the tools of science and restricted to a single species.The so-called emergence of a science of consciousness...