Massimo Pigliucci and Gerd B. Müller (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262513678
- eISBN:
- 9780262315142
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262513678.001.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
In the six decades since the publication of Julian Huxley’s Evolution: The Modern Synthesis, the spectacular empirical advances in the biological sciences have been accompanied by equally significant ...
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In the six decades since the publication of Julian Huxley’s Evolution: The Modern Synthesis, the spectacular empirical advances in the biological sciences have been accompanied by equally significant developments within the core theoretical framework of the discipline. As a result, evolutionary theory today includes concepts and even entire new fields that were not part of the foundational structure of the Modern Synthesis. In this book, sixteen evolutionary biologists and philosophers of science survey the conceptual changes that have emerged since Huxley’s landmark publication, not only in such traditional domains of evolutionary biology as quantitative genetics and paleontology but also in such new fields of research as genomics and EvoDevo. Most of the contributors accept many of the tenets of the classical framework but want to relax some of its assumptions and introduce significant conceptual augmentations of the basic Modern Synthesis structure—just as the architects of the Modern Synthesis themselves expanded and modulated previous versions of Darwinism. This continuing revision of a theoretical edifice, the foundations of which were laid in the middle of the nineteenth century—the reexamination of old ideas, proposals of new ones, and the synthesis of the most suitable—shows how science works, and how scientists have painstakingly built a solid set of explanations for what Darwin called the “grandeur” of life.Less
In the six decades since the publication of Julian Huxley’s Evolution: The Modern Synthesis, the spectacular empirical advances in the biological sciences have been accompanied by equally significant developments within the core theoretical framework of the discipline. As a result, evolutionary theory today includes concepts and even entire new fields that were not part of the foundational structure of the Modern Synthesis. In this book, sixteen evolutionary biologists and philosophers of science survey the conceptual changes that have emerged since Huxley’s landmark publication, not only in such traditional domains of evolutionary biology as quantitative genetics and paleontology but also in such new fields of research as genomics and EvoDevo. Most of the contributors accept many of the tenets of the classical framework but want to relax some of its assumptions and introduce significant conceptual augmentations of the basic Modern Synthesis structure—just as the architects of the Modern Synthesis themselves expanded and modulated previous versions of Darwinism. This continuing revision of a theoretical edifice, the foundations of which were laid in the middle of the nineteenth century—the reexamination of old ideas, proposals of new ones, and the synthesis of the most suitable—shows how science works, and how scientists have painstakingly built a solid set of explanations for what Darwin called the “grandeur” of life.
Massimo Pigliucci and Gerd B. Müller
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262513678
- eISBN:
- 9780262315142
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262513678.003.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
This book reviews the directions that contribute to an Extended Synthesis. It deals with the significant advances in the understanding of the tightly linked ideas (in the Modern Synthesis [MS]) of ...
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This book reviews the directions that contribute to an Extended Synthesis. It deals with the significant advances in the understanding of the tightly linked ideas (in the Modern Synthesis [MS]) of natural selection and adaptation. The book addresses the new information from molecular genetics and genomics that brings significant new issues to evolutionary theory, and describes the kinds of hereditary and replicatory mechanisms which are not considered within the framework of the MS. Additionally, it analyzes the ongoing revisions of the MS that come from the new field of evolutionary developmental biology (EvoDevo). The principles of macroevolution and evolvability that are outside the scope of the traditional MS are explained. An overview of the chapters included in the book is finally given.Less
This book reviews the directions that contribute to an Extended Synthesis. It deals with the significant advances in the understanding of the tightly linked ideas (in the Modern Synthesis [MS]) of natural selection and adaptation. The book addresses the new information from molecular genetics and genomics that brings significant new issues to evolutionary theory, and describes the kinds of hereditary and replicatory mechanisms which are not considered within the framework of the MS. Additionally, it analyzes the ongoing revisions of the MS that come from the new field of evolutionary developmental biology (EvoDevo). The principles of macroevolution and evolvability that are outside the scope of the traditional MS are explained. An overview of the chapters included in the book is finally given.
John Odling-Smee
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262513678
- eISBN:
- 9780262315142
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262513678.003.0008
- Subject:
- Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
This chapter illustrates the addition of niche construction to evolutionary theory, focusing primarily on the EvoDevo relationship. It elaborates the concept of niche inheritance to illustrate how ...
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This chapter illustrates the addition of niche construction to evolutionary theory, focusing primarily on the EvoDevo relationship. It elaborates the concept of niche inheritance to illustrate how the various candidate inheritance systems correspond to different components of niche inheritance and considers the principal subcomponents of niche inheritance. The chapter shows that the niche construction theory (NCT) links evolution to ecosystem-level ecology. It suggests that niche construction contributes to the “evo-devo” relationship by improving the contributions of prior evolution to the subsequent development of individual organisms, and by allowing plastic, niche-constructing developing organisms to influence the subsequent evolution of populations.Less
This chapter illustrates the addition of niche construction to evolutionary theory, focusing primarily on the EvoDevo relationship. It elaborates the concept of niche inheritance to illustrate how the various candidate inheritance systems correspond to different components of niche inheritance and considers the principal subcomponents of niche inheritance. The chapter shows that the niche construction theory (NCT) links evolution to ecosystem-level ecology. It suggests that niche construction contributes to the “evo-devo” relationship by improving the contributions of prior evolution to the subsequent development of individual organisms, and by allowing plastic, niche-constructing developing organisms to influence the subsequent evolution of populations.
Werner Callebaut
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262013338
- eISBN:
- 9780262259101
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262013338.003.0006
- Subject:
- Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
This chapter contributes to the long-term project of a general theory of innovation through a comparative analysis of the reasons for the neglect of innovation and novelty in diverse fields ...
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This chapter contributes to the long-term project of a general theory of innovation through a comparative analysis of the reasons for the neglect of innovation and novelty in diverse fields throughout much of the twentieth century and through a reflection on the various ways in which this bias is being overcome. It explores the three areas in which long-term neglect of innovation has been the rule rather than the exception: evolutionary biology and the hardening of the modern synthesis, neoclassical economics, and logical empiricism and the abandonment of the discovery program. This chapter suggests that EvoDevo biology today appears to be on the most promising track in evolutionary core.Less
This chapter contributes to the long-term project of a general theory of innovation through a comparative analysis of the reasons for the neglect of innovation and novelty in diverse fields throughout much of the twentieth century and through a reflection on the various ways in which this bias is being overcome. It explores the three areas in which long-term neglect of innovation has been the rule rather than the exception: evolutionary biology and the hardening of the modern synthesis, neoclassical economics, and logical empiricism and the abandonment of the discovery program. This chapter suggests that EvoDevo biology today appears to be on the most promising track in evolutionary core.
