ABSTRACT
This chapter explains how evolutionary change can be causally analysed and quantified by using force models. By delineating evolutionary events into processes, and quantifying the effect of the processes, forces are defined. The overall change in the model is then the net effect of the forces. In this way, a qualitative causal analysis can be quantified and used to explain and predict evolutionary change. The evolutionary forces are not fundamental, and the process of modeling is guided by pragmatic considerations. This analysis is used to provide precise definitions of evolutionary advantage, broad and narrow evolution by natural selection, and several different senses of evolutionary drift.
