Unity And Disunity In Evolutionary Biology

Unity and Disunity in Evolutionary Biology

It is not uncommon to see in major areas of research concerned with science that historical studies are accompanied by the rise of complementary or contradictory historiographies. With time, it seems, scholars discover new approaches to study topics, thus questioning old concepts, traditions, periodizations and historical labels. Apparently, this has not been the case in evolutionary thought. In that area, the main historiographic labels such as Darwinian Revolution, Eclipse of Darwinism, and Modern Synthesis have been in place and largely uncontested for about 50 years. Such labels seem to work as irrefutable, and often hidden, premises of many historical reconstructions, philosophical analyses, and scientific conceptualizations. This volume aims to move beyond this state of affair, opening new thinking avenues by revisiting the traditional historiography and laying the groundwork for establishing a “new historiography” that considers the intertwined threads that compose evolutionary biology. Notably, evolutionary studies seem to have been marked by the tension between unification attempts and the proliferation of approaches, methodologies, and styles of thinking. As the contributors to this volume illustrate, research traditions branched off throughout the history of evolutionary thought, before and after Charles Darwin. The resulting complexity challenges traditional thinking categories, throwing a somewhat different light on a more recent label like the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis. More than 40 years after the now classic, The Evolutionary Synthesis: Perspectives on the Unification of Biology (1980), edited by Ernst Mayr and William Provine, the contributors to this volume aim to reevaluate where evolutionary biology stands today.

Hierarchical Evolutionary-Developmental Theory

This book introduces a new evolutionary model called “Hierarchical Evolutionary-Developmental Theory” or “H-Evo-Devo Theory.” This theory proposes that the organism’s internal properties reflect entities that are highly integrated in developmental terms that evolve hierarchically. In other words, it attempts to demonstrate that developmental constraints operate at different scales, producing distinct states of morphological stability reflected as subspecies, species, higher taxa, and homologues, all representing units of evolution. In addition, it reintroduces the concept of the “organism” in evolutionary biology, supports a strictly macroevolutionary view, and contemplates alternative evolutionary rates, processes, and mechanisms at different levels: microevolution, macroevolution, megaevolution, and modular-evolution. In short, this book establishes a new synthesis between systematics, morphology, and evolution, suggesting a significant shift in evolutionary thought. The book comprises: 1. A proposal for a new theory of evolution and systematics: The H-Evo-Devo Theory reinterprets the concepts of subspecies, species, higher taxa, and homologues, proposing that the phylogenetic tree is built on a hierarchy of types, developed from the top-down, in contrast to the traditional bottom-up approach. 2. A novel hierarchical perspective that reveals the underlying mechanisms acting on the patterns of divergence, stability, and extinction of the units of evolution. 3. A resolution to the ontological problem regarding units of evolution (e.g., the reality of species and higher taxa). 4. A historical narrative that focuses on the development of a hierarchy theory of evolution grounded in the type concept and the significance of an organism-centered perspective. 5. A challenge to traditional frameworks that have sought to establish hierarchies in an evolutionary context. 6. A challenge to classical evolutionary statements such as gradualism, punctuated equilibrium, the extrapolationist premise, and geographical models of speciation. This book is written for those who feel that radical change is needed in evolutionary theory, offering them a viable alternative.

The Unity of Evolutionary Biology