Dimensions of Darwinism
Themes and Counterthemes in Twentieth-Century Evolutionary Theory

This collection of essays analyses the development, meaning and problems of twentieth-century evolutionary theory.

Marjorie Grene (Author)

9780521310215, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 31 March 1986

348 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.9 cm, 0.51 kg

Originally published in paperback in 1986, the essays in this book discuss questions about the growth and conceptual structure of the modern evolutionary synthesis, or 'neo-Darwinism'. Written by biologists, historians and philosophers, the collection provides a penetrating analysis of the development, meaning and problems of twentieth-century evolutionary theory. Part I includes discussion of the role of eugenics in shaping the biological interests of R. A. Fisher; the abandonment of Lamarckism; the influence of systematics and the concepts of adaptation and random drift in the development of Sewall Wright's theory; and explanation of how the synthesis 'hardened' in the decades following its original presentation. Part II examines the history of mimetic theory as a case study in evolutionary thought, while Part III introduces the reader to some aspects of the German tradition. Finally, Part IV addresses the debates that existed around the time of publication.

List of contributors
Acknowledgments
Introduction Marjorie Grene
Part I. The Developing Synthesis: 1. Fisher's entrance into evolutionary science: the role of eugenics Bernard Norton
2. The abandonment of Lamarckian explanations: the case of climatic parallelism of animal characteristics Bernhard Rensch
3. The development of Wright's theory of evolution: systematics, adaptation, and drift William B. Provine
4. The hardening of the modern synthesis Stephen Jay Gould
Part II. Mimetic Theory: Its Relation to the History of Evolutionary Biology: 5. Mimicry: views of naturalists and ecologists before the modern synthesis William C. Kimler
6. 'The hypothesis that explains mimetic resemblance explains evolution': the gradualist-saltationist schism John R. G. Turner
Part III. The German Paleontological and Morphological Tradition: 7. Evolutionary theory in German paleontology Wolf-Ernst Reif
8. The role of morphology in the theory of evolution Rupert Riedl
Part IV. Some Contemporary Issues: The Synthesis Reconsidered: 9. Paleobiology at the crossroads: a critique of some modern paleobiological research programs Antoni Hoffman
10. Current controversies in evolutionary biology John Maynard Smith
11. 'Adaptation' Richard M. Burian
12. Evolutionary theory and its consequences for the concept of adaptation D. S. Peters.

Subject Areas: History of science [PDX]