This book is about evolutionary theory. It deals with aspects of its history to focus upon explanatory structures at work in the various forms of evolutionary theory - as such this is also a work of philosophy. Its focus lies on recent debates about the Modern Synthesis and what might be lacking in that synthesis. These claims have been most clearly made by those calling for an Extended Evolutionary Synthesis. The author argues that the difference between these two positions is the consequence of two things. First, whether evolution is a considered as solely a population level phenomenon or also a theory of form. Second, the use of information concepts.
In this book Darwinian evolution is positioned as a general theory of evolution, a theory that gave evolution a technical meaning as the statistical outcome of variation, competition, and inheritance. The Modern Synthesis (MS) within biology, has a particular focus, a particular architecture to its explanations that renders it a special theory of evolution.
After providing a history of Darwinian theory and the MS, recent claims and exhortations for an Extended Evolutionary Synthesis (EES) are examined that see the need for the inclusion of non-genetic modes of inheritance and also developmental processes. Much of this argument is based around claims that the MS adopts a particular view of information that has privileged the gene as an instructional unit in the emergence of form. The author analyses the uses of information and claims that neither side of the debate explicitly and formally deals with this concept. A more formal view of information is provided which challenges the EES claims about the role of genes in MS explanations of form whilst being consilient with their own interests in developmental biology. It is concluded that the MS implicitly assumed this formal view of information whilst using information terms in a colloquial manner. In the final chapter the idea that the MS is an informational theory that acts to corral more specific phenomenal accounts, is mooted. As such the book argues for a constrained pluralism within biology, where the MS describes those constraints.
Author(s): Thomas E. Dickins
Series: Evolutionary Biology – New Perspectives on Its Development, 4
Publisher: Springer
Year: 2021
Language: English
Pages: 256
City: Cham
Preface
Acknowledgments
Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
1: Introduction
1.1 Scholasticism and Conceptual Ecology
1.1.1 A Survey of the Conceptual Landscape
1.1.1.1 Some Comments on Extending the Synthesis
1.1.1.2 Further Abstractions
1.1.1.3 Explanation
1.1.1.4 Information
1.1.2 Summary
1.1.3 Conclusion
References
2: Darwinian Evolution
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Darwin´s Contribution
2.2.1 Evolution by Natural Selection
2.2.2 Variation and Heredity
2.3 The Darwinian View of Evolution
2.3.1 The Challenge of Darwinian Evolution
2.4 On Definition and Natural Selection
2.5 Variation and Biometrics
2.5.1 Mendel and Beyond
2.6 Conclusion
References
3: The Modern Synthesis
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Darwin Eclipsed
3.3 Synthesis
3.3.1 Neo-Darwinism
3.3.2 The Modern Synthesis: Phase I
3.3.2.1 Fisher and Haldane
3.3.2.2 Wright
3.3.2.3 From Phase 1 to Phase 2 of the Synthesis
3.3.3 The Modern Synthesis: Phase II
3.3.3.1 Criticisms of the Hardened View
3.4 Summary
References
4: Causation
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Causation
4.2.1 Proximate and Ultimate Causation
4.2.2 Teleology
4.2.3 Prediction
4.2.4 Lessons
4.3 Causation Revisited
4.3.1 Limitations of the Proximate-Ultimate Distinction
4.3.2 Contemporary Debates
4.3.2.1 Development and Evolution
4.3.2.2 Niche Construction and Other Matters
4.3.3 A Hindrance to Progress
4.3.4 Philosophical Ambitions
4.4 Subsequent Analyses
4.5 Summary and Conclusion
References
5: Data and Information
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Data and Information
5.2.1 Discerning Data and Information
5.2.2 Information, Preformation, and Genes
5.2.3 Levels of Organization
5.3 Robustness
5.3.1 Bet Hedging
5.3.2 Developmental Plasticity
5.3.3 Physiological Plasticity
5.4 Summary and Conclusion
References
6: Evolution and Development
6.1 Introduction
6.2 The Place of Development in the Modern Synthesis
6.2.1 Adaptive and Adapted Views
6.3 Aspects of Evo-devo
6.3.1 Conserved Genes and Core Processes for Evolution
6.3.2 Kirschner and Gerhart´s Theory of Facilitated Variation
6.3.3 Modular Development and Gene Centrism
6.4 What Is Left?
6.4.1 Reaction Norms
6.5 Summary
References
7: Epigenetics
7.1 Introduction
7.2 The Central Dogma of Molecular Biology
7.3 Epigenetics
7.3.1 A Little Detail
7.3.2 The Epigenetic Challenge to the Modern Synthesis
7.4 Inclusive Inheritance
7.4.1 Avatars and Information
7.4.2 Information as Out There or as Systemic Realization
7.4.3 The Role of Information in Inclusive Inheritance
7.5 Conclusion
References
8: Niche Construction Theory
8.1 Introduction
8.1.1 The Pre-history of Niche Construction
8.1.2 The Main Claims from Niche Construction Theory
8.1.3 The Structure of Niche Construction Theory
8.1.4 The Constructions of Niche Construction Theory
8.1.5 Summary and Conclusion
References
9: Evolution and the Developmental Challenge
9.1 Introduction
9.2 Information Revisited
9.3 Developmental Systems Theory
9.3.1 Defining Developmental Systems Theory
9.4 Some Comments on Theoretical Structure
9.5 Conclusion
References
Index
