The aim of this virtual special issue is to bring together philosophical and historical perspectives to address long-standing issues in the interpretation, utility, and impacts of quantitative genetics methods and findings. Methodological approaches and the underlying scientific understanding of genetics and heredity have transformed since the field's inception. These advances have brought with them new philosophical issues regarding the interpretation and understanding of quantitative genetic results. The contributions in this issue demonstrate that there is still work to be done integrating old and new methodological and conceptual frameworks. In some cases, new results are interpreted using assumptions based on old concepts and methodologies that need to be explicitly recognised and updated. In other cases, new philosophical tools can be employed to synthesise historical quantitative genetics work with modern methodologies and findings. This introductory article surveys three general themes that have dominated philosophical discussion of quantitative genetics throughout history: (1) how methodologies have changed and transformed our knowledge and interpretations; (2) whether or not quantitative genetics can offer explanations relating to causation and prediction; and (3) the importance of defining the phenotypes under study. We situate the contributions in this virtual special issue within a historical framework addressing these three themes.

中文翻译：

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数量遗传学的新历史和哲学观点。

这期虚拟特刊的目的是汇集哲学和历史观点，以解决在定量遗传学方法和发现的解释、效用和影响方面长期存在的问题。自该领域成立以来，方法论方法和对遗传学和遗传的基本科学理解已经发生了变化。这些进步带来了关于定量遗传结果的解释和理解的新哲学问题。本期的文章表明，整合新旧方法和概念框架仍有许多工作要做。在某些情况下，新结果是使用基于需要明确识别和更新的旧概念和方法的假设来解释的。在其他情况下，可以采用新的哲学工具将历史上的定量遗传学工作与现代方法和发现相结合。这篇介绍性文章调查了三个在整个历史上主导数量遗传学哲学讨论的一般主题：（1）方法论如何改变和改变了我们的知识和解释；(2) 数量遗传学能否解释因果关系和预测；(3) 定义所研究表型的重要性。我们将本期虚拟特刊的贡献置于解决这三个主题的历史框架内。这篇介绍性文章调查了三个在整个历史上主导数量遗传学哲学讨论的一般主题：（1）方法论如何改变和改变了我们的知识和解释；(2) 数量遗传学能否解释因果关系和预测；(3) 定义所研究表型的重要性。我们将本期虚拟特刊的贡献置于解决这三个主题的历史框架内。这篇介绍性文章调查了三个在整个历史上主导数量遗传学哲学讨论的一般主题：（1）方法论如何改变和改变了我们的知识和解释；(2) 数量遗传学能否解释因果关系和预测；(3) 定义所研究表型的重要性。我们将本期虚拟特刊的贡献置于解决这三个主题的历史框架内。