DOCSLIB.ORG

CONCEPTULIZING the EXTENDED EVOLUTIONARY SYNTHESIS by Brian Patrick Hoburg

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
CONCEPTULIZING the EXTENDED EVOLUTIONARY SYNTHESIS by Brian Patrick Hoburg EVOLUTION IN THE LIGHT OF TIME: CONCEPTULIZING THE EXTENDED EVOLUTIONARY SYNTHESIS by Brian Patrick Hoburg A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Purdue University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Philosophy West Lafayette, Indiana May 2020 THE PURDUE UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL STATEMENT OF COMMITTEE APPROVAL Dr. Daniel W. Smith, Chair Department of Philosophy Dr. Arkady Plotnitsky Department of English Dr. William L. McBride Department of Philosophy Dr. Jean M. Salanskis Department of Philosophy Paris Nanterre University Approved by: Dr. Venetria K. Patton and Dr. Christopher L. Yeomans 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... 5 INTRODUCTION: EVOLUTION IN THE LIGHT OF STRATIGRAPHIC TIME ..................... 7 Biology in the Light of Evolution .............................................................................................. 14 Evolution in the Light of Time .................................................................................................. 19 The Extended Evolutionary Synthesis in the Light of Stratigraphic Time ................................ 26 Philosophy of Nature, Philosophy of Science, and Science ...................................................... 37 CHAPTER 1. EMBRACING THE PROBLEMATIC STRUCTURE OF THE EXTENDED EVOLUTIONARY SYNTHESIS ................................................................................................ 42 1.1 The Problem of Evolutionary Synthesis ........................................................................... 44 1.2 Classic and Contemporary Synthesis Arguments ............................................................. 55 1.3 Unidirectional Versus Reciprocal Causality ..................................................................... 59 1.4 Core Assumptions of the Modern Synthesis ..................................................................... 66 1.5 Core Assumptions of the Extended Synthesis .................................................................. 72 1.6 The Temporal Problematization of Evolutionary Synthesis ............................................. 80 CHAPTER 2. DEEP TIME: THE FORGOTTEN FRONTIER ................................................. 83 2.1 The Discovery of Deep Time ............................................................................................ 84 2.2 Rationalist Reconciliations of Arrows and Cycles of Time.............................................. 93 2.3 The Gradualist Eclipse of Geological Time ...................................................................... 99 2.4 Methods of Historical Inference in Early Evolutionary Biology .................................... 105 2.5 Revivals of the Problem of Evolutionary Time .............................................................. 114 CHAPTER 3. THE CHRONOMETRIC SUBORDINATION OF TIME TO MOVEMENT IN PHILOSOPHY, SCIENCE, AND SOCIETY ............................................................................ 118 3.1 The Measure of Time in Science and Society ................................................................ 119 3.2 The Subordination of Time to Movement ...................................................................... 126 3.3 The Copernican Turn in Temporality ............................................................................. 133 3.4 Time as Pure and Empty Form of Change ...................................................................... 143 3.5 The Problem of Time and the Form of the True ............................................................. 149 CHAPTER 4. THE CONTINUOUS VARIATION OF EVOLUTIONARY CONTINGENCY .. ........................................................................................................................... 155 3 4.1 The Vexed Role of Contingency in Evolutionary Theory .............................................. 157 4.2 Law-like Evolutionary Explanations .............................................................................. 162 4.3 Idealizing the Explanatory Target: From Organism to Gene and Back .......................... 167 4.4 Quantum Evolution: An Intimation of Causal Multiplicity ............................................ 172 4.5 The Intensive Modality of Synthesis .............................................................................. 176 CHAPTER 5. STRATIGRAPHIC TIME: THE SYNTHESIS OF BIOLOGICAL AND EVOLUTIONARY RHYTHMS ................................................................................................ 181 5.1 Chronobiology: The Power of Movement and Measurement......................................... 182 5.2 Preformism: The Retrospective Movement of the True ................................................. 189 5.3 Actualism: The Reduction of Evolutionary Time to Causal Succession ........................ 191 5.4 Rhythm-Repetition and Cadence-Repetition .................................................................. 194 5.5 Passive and Active Temporal Syntheses (or Modes of Repetition) ................................ 201 5.6 Concluding Thoughts ...................................................................................................... 208 BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................................... 211 4 ABSTRACT Compelled by converging research in the natural sciences suggesting the stratigraphic nature of time, I argue for a temporal approach to the venerable problem of synthesis in evolutionary theory. Geneticist and pioneer of the Modern Synthesis (MS), Theodosius Dobzhansky (1900-1975), constructed one of the most powerful synthesis arguments in the history of evolutionary biology in the classic “Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in the Light of Evolution” (1973). I argue that nothing in evolution makes sense except in the light of time, such that the problem of evolutionary time plays a powerful role in making sense of the conceptual architecture of the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis (EES). The EES offers a strong alternative to the temporal and causal idealizations operating at the hardened core of the MS. I create the philosophical concept of stratigraphic time to strengthen connections between the four problem agendas or “causal catchalls” structuring the new synthesis: (1) developmental plasticity, (2) developmental bias, (3) inclusive inheritance, and (4) niche construction (Laland 2015 et al.). The dissertation is driven by two critical arguments (Chapters 1-3) concerning the subordination of time to process, and two constructive arguments (Chapters 4 and 5) concerning the nature of evolutionary time, which together attest to the conceptual strength of a temporal approach to the multiplicity of evolutionary problems pursued by the EES, and especially the connections between them. Chapter 1, “Embracing the Problematic Structure of the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis,” explicates and evaluates the core assumptions of the EES in contrast with those of the MS, which has served as the dominant conceptual framework for evolutionary science and theory since the early twentieth century. Chapter 2, “Deep Time: The Forgotten Frontier,” critically argues that evolutionary time has been subordinated to evolutionary process, that the problem of evolutionary 5 time must be revived after its eclipse at the origin of evolutionary theory, especially due to Darwin’s unnecessarily strict commitments to gradualism, adaptationism, and to the preeminence of natural selection. Chapter 3, “The Chronometric Subordination of Time to Movement in Philosophy, Science, and Society,,” critically argues that the subordination of evolutionary time to process is primed by the chronometrically facilitated subordination of time to movement, what mathematician, physicist, and philosopher of science Henri Poincaré (1854-1912) called an unconscious opportunism in philosophical and scientific thought. The constructive arguments unfolded in Chapter 4, “The Continuous Variation of Evolutionary Contingency,” and Chapter 5, “Stratigraphic Time: The Synthesis of Deep and Developmental Rhythms,” attempt to respect causal thinking while conceptualizing evolutionary processes not according to causal laws but rather according to passive and active temporal syntheses (or modes of repetition), effectively delimiting causal thinking to a provisional conceptualization. Stratigraphic time enables conceptualization of the multiplicity of evolutionary process, driven by a new concept of evolutionary contingency. I argue that the roles of chance and causation in the EES are strengthened by concepts of difference and repetition, akin to the conceptual roles played by arrows and cycles of time in the formation of geological and evolutionary thought. These critical and constructive arguments are guided by Gilles Deleuze’s philosophy of time, which he conceptualizes under the rubric of repetition. The three passive and active temporal syntheses, or modes of repetition, Deleuze creates to think the nature of repetition provide conceptual tools for evolutionary synthesis through stratigraphic time. 6 INTRODUCTION: EVOLUTION IN THE LIGHT OF STRATIGRAPHIC TIME Compelled by corroborating research in the natural sciences suggesting the stratigraphic nature of time, I argue for a temporal approach to the venerable problem of synthesis in evolutionary theory. Geneticist and pioneer of the Modern Synthesis
Load more

Recommended publications
  • EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE for SALTATIONAL CHROMOSOME EVOLUTION in CAL YCADENIA PAUCIFLORA GRAY (ASTERACEAE) Pauciflora Are Fairly Fe
    Heredity (1980), 45 (1), 107-112 0018-067X/80/01940107$02.0O 1980. The Genetical Society of Great Britain EXPERIMENTALEVIDENCE FOR SALTATIONAL CHROMOSOME EVOLUTION IN CAL YCADENIA PAUCIFLORA GRAY (ASTERACEAE) GERALD D. CARR Department of Botany, University of Hawaii, 3190 Maile Way, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822, U.S.A. Received14.i.80 SUMMARY The fertility of the F1 structural heterozygote formed by crossing two aneuploid chromosome races of Calycadenia pauciflora is high despite the fact they are differentiated by the equivalent of three chromosome translocations. This and the fact that ancestral and derived structural homozygotes were recovered in experimental F2 and F3 progenies support the hypothesis that the derived race could have originated directly from the ancestral race in nature through a single saltational event involving multiple chromosome breaks. Two individuals with structurally unique, recombined chromosomes were also recovered in the F2 and the evolutionary potential of such products of meiosis in structural heterozygotes is considered to be significant. 1. INTRODUCTION THERE have been several experimental studies documenting the existence of pairs or groups of diploid plant species differentiated by little more than chromosome alterations, often accompanied by aneuploidy. Calycadenia, Chaenactis, Clarkia and Crepis are just a few of the genera in which this situation is best known or more frequent. In Clarkia, Lewis (1966) referred to this process of differentiation as saltational speciation. Others have used the term quantum evolution or quantum speciation in reference to this general phenomenon (cf. Grant, 1971). This type of chromosomal evolution requires that a new structural heterozygote pass through a "bottleneck of sterility" before the derived structural homozygote can be produced (cf.
    [Show full text]
  • Tempo and Mode in the Macroevolutionary Reconstruction of Darwinism STEPHEN JAY GOULD Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138
    Proc. Nadl. Acad. Sci. USA Vol. 91, pp. 6764-6771, July 1994 Colloquium Paper This paper was presented at a coloquium ented "Tempo and Mode in Evolution" organized by Walter M. Fitch and Francisco J. Ayala, held January 27-29, 1994, by the National Academy of Sciences, in Irvine, CA. Tempo and mode in the macroevolutionary reconstruction of Darwinism STEPHEN JAY GOULD Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138 ABSTRACT Among the several central nings of Dar- But conceptual complexity is not reducible to a formula or winism, his version ofLyellian uniformitranism-the extrap- epigram (as we taxonomists of life's diversity should know olationist commitment to viewing causes ofsmall-scale, observ- better than most). Too much ink has been wasted in vain able change in modern populations as the complete source, by attempts to define the essence ofDarwin's ideas, or Darwin- smooth extension through geological time, of all magnitudes ism itself. Mayr (1) has correctly emphasized that many and sequences in evolution-has most contributed to the causal different, if related, Darwinisms exist, both in the thought of hegemony of microevolutlon and the assumption that paleon- the eponym himself, and in the subsequent history of evo- tology can document the contingent history of life but cannot lutionary biology-ranging from natural selection, to genea- act as a domain of novel evolutionary theory. G. G. Simpson logical connection of all living beings, to gradualism of tried to combat this view of paleontology as theoretically inert change. in his classic work, Tempo and Mode in Evolution (1944), with It would therefore be fatuous to claim that any one legit- a brilliant argument that the two subjects of his tide fall into a imate "essence" can be more basic or important than an- unue paleontological domain and that modes (processes and other.
    [Show full text]
  • Darwinian Evolution and Quantum Evolution
    tics: Cu ne rr e en Nemer et al., Hereditary Genet 2017, 6:2 G t y R r e a t s i e DOI: 10.4172/2161-1041.1000181 d a e r r c e h H Hereditary Genetics ISSN: 2161-1041 Research Article Open Access Darwinian Evolution and Quantum Evolution are Complementary: A Perspective Georges Nemer1, Christina Bergqvist2 and Mazen Kurban1,2,3* 1Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon 2Department of Dermatology, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon 3Department of Dermatology, Columbia University, New York, USA Abstract Evolutionary biology has fascinated scientists since Charles Darwin who cornered the concept of natural selection in the 19th century. Accordingly, organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring; in other terms, randomly occurring mutations that render the organism more fit to survival will be carried on and be transmitted to the offspring. Nearly a century later, science has seen the discovery of quantum mechanics, the branch of mechanics that deals with subatomic particles. Along with it, came the theory of quantum evolution whereby quantum effects can bias the process of mutation towards providing an advantage for organism survival. This is consistent with looking at the biological system as being a product of chemical-physical reactions, such that chemical structures arrange according to physical laws to form a replicative material referred to as the DNA. In this report, we attempt to reconcile both theories, trying to demonstrate that they complement each other, hoping to fill the gaps in our understandings of the versatility of the mutational status of the DNA as an essential mechanism of life compatibility.
    [Show full text]
  • Quantum Microbiology
    Curr. Issues Mol. Biol. 13: 43-50. OnlineQuantum journal at http://www.cimb.orgMicrobiology 43 Quantum Microbiology J. T. Trevors1* and L. Masson2* big bang. Currently, one of the signifcant unsolved problems in modern physics is how to merge the two into a unifying 1School of Environmental Sciences, University of Guelph, theory. Since quantum mechanics describes the physical 50 Stone Rd., East, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1, Canada world, and living organisms are physical entities, it is rational 2Biotechnology Research Institute, National Research and logical to examine the role of quantum mechanics in Council of Canada, 6100 Royalmount Ave., Montreal, the matter and energy of living microorganisms, especially Quebec H4P 2R2, Canada their origin about 4 billion years ago. To do so requires an understanding of quantum processes at the atomic scale and smaller where electrons, for example, do not collide Abstract with the atomic nucleus but defy electromagnetism and orbit During his famous 1943 lecture series at Trinity College at both an undefned speed and path around the nucleus. Dublin, the reknown physicist Erwin Schrödinger discussed One distinguishing characteristic of quantum mechanics the failure and challenges of interpreting life by classical is the Complementarity Principle (or wave-particle duality) physics alone and that a new approach, rooted in Quantum developed by Niels Bohr indicating that a particle can principles, must be involved. Quantum events are simply a possess multiple contradictory properties. level of organization below the molecular level. This includes A classic example of complementarity is Thomas the atomic and subatomic makeup of matter in microbial Young's famous light interference, and later on the double- metabolism and structures, as well as the organic, genetic slit, experiment showing that light or other quantum information codes of DNA and RNA.
    [Show full text]
  • Evolution in the Weak-Mutation Limit: Stasis Periods Punctuated by Fast Transitions Between Saddle Points on the Fitness Landscape
    Evolution in the weak-mutation limit: Stasis periods punctuated by fast transitions between saddle points on the fitness landscape Yuri Bakhtina, Mikhail I. Katsnelsonb, Yuri I. Wolfc, and Eugene V. Kooninc,1 aCourant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University, New York, NY 10012; bInstitute for Molecules and Materials, Radboud University, NL-6525 AJ Nijmegen, The Netherlands; and cNational Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20894 Contributed by Eugene V. Koonin, December 16, 2020 (sent for review July 24, 2020; reviewed by Sergey Gavrilets and Alexey S. Kondrashov) A mathematical analysis of the evolution of a large population occur (9, 10). The long intervals of stasis are punctuated by short under the weak-mutation limit shows that such a population periods of rapid evolution during which speciation occurs, and the would spend most of the time in stasis in the vicinity of saddle previous dominant species is replaced by a new one. Gould and points on the fitness landscape. The periods of stasis are punctu- Eldredge emphasized that PE was not equivalent to the “hopeful ated by fast transitions, in lnNe/s time (Ne, effective population monsters” idea, in that no macromutation or saltation was proposed size; s, selection coefficient of a mutation), when a new beneficial to occur, but rather a major acceleration of evolution via rapid mutation is fixed in the evolving population, which accordingly succession of “regular” mutations that resulted in the appearance of moves to a different saddle, or on much rarer occasions from a instantaneous speciation, on a geological scale.
    [Show full text]
  • Quantum Theory on Genome Evolution
    Quantum patterns of genome size variation in angiosperms Liaofu Luo1 2 Lirong Zhang1 1 School of Physical Science and Technology, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, 010021, P. R. China 2 School of Life Science and Technology, Inner Mongolia University of Science and Technology, Baotou, Inner Mongolia,014010, P. R. China Email to LZ: [email protected] ; LL: [email protected] Abstract The nuclear DNA amount in angiosperms is studied from the eigen-value equation of the genome evolution operator H. The operator H is introduced by physical simulation and it is defined as a function of the genome size N and the derivative with respective to the size. The discontinuity of DNA size distribution and its synergetic occurrence in related angiosperms species are successfully deduced from the solution of the equation. The results agree well with the existing experimental data of Aloe, Clarkia, Nicotiana, Lathyrus, Allium and other genera. It may indicate that the evolutionary constrains on angiosperm genome are essentially of quantum origin. Key words: Genome size; DNA amount; Evolution; Angiosperms; Quantum Introduction DNA amount is relatively constant and tends to be highly characteristic for a species. The nuclear DNA amounts of angiosperm plants were estimated by at least eight different techniques and mainly (over 96%) by flow cytometry and Feulgen microdensitometry. The C-values for more than 6000 angiosperm species were reported till 2011(1). It is found that these C-values are highly variable, differing over 1000-fold. Changes in DNA amount in evolution often appear non-random in amount and distribution (2-4).
    [Show full text]
  • On Two Quantum Approaches to Adaptive Mutations in Bacteria
    On two quantum approaches to adaptive mutations in bacteria. Vasily Ogryzko* INSERM, CNRS UMR 8126, Universite Paris Sud XI Institut Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France Key words: Adaptive mutations, quantum mechanics, measurement, decoherence, Lamarck [email protected] http://sites.google.com/site/vasilyogryzko/ ABSTRACT approach. The positive role of environmentally induced decoherence (EID) on both steps of the The phenomenon of adaptive mutations has been adaptation process in the framework of the Q-cell attracting attention of biologists for several approach is emphasized. A starving bacterial cell is decades as challenging the basic premise of the proposed to be in an einselected state. The Central Dogma of Molecular Biology. Two intracellular dynamics in this state has a unitary approaches, based on the quantum theoretical character and is proposed to be interpreted as principles (QMAMs - Quantum Models of ‘exponential growth in imaginary time’, Adaptive Mutations) have been proposed in analogously to the commonly considered order to explain this phenomenon. In the present ‘diffusion’ interpretation of the Schroedinger work, they are termed Q-cell and Q-genome equation. Addition of a substrate leads to Wick approaches and are compared using ‘fluctuation rotation and a switch from ‘imaginary time’ trapping’ mechanism as a general framework. reproduction to a ‘real time’ reproduction regime. Notions of R-error and D-error are introduced, Due to the variations at the genomic level (such as and it is argued that the ‘fluctuation trapping base tautomery), the starving cell has to be model’ can be considered as a QMAM only if it represented as a superposition of different employs a correlation between the R- and D- components, all ‘reproducing in imaginary time’.
    [Show full text]
  • Evolution & Development
    Received: 28 March 2019 | Revised: 5 August 2019 | Accepted: 6 August 2019 DOI: 10.1111/ede.12312 RESEARCH Developmental bias in the fossil record Illiam S. C. Jackson Department of Biology, Lund University, Sweden Abstract The role of developmental bias and plasticity in evolution is a central research Correspondence interest in evolutionary biology. Studies of these concepts and related Illiam S. C. Jackson, Lund University, Sweden. processes are usually conducted on extant systems and have seen limited Email: [email protected] investigation in the fossil record. Here, I identify plasticity‐led evolution (PLE) as a form of developmental bias accessible through scrutiny of paleontological Funding information Knut och Alice Wallenbergs Stiftelse, material. I summarize the process of PLE and describe it in terms of the Grant/Award Number: KAW 2012.0155 environmentally mediated accumulation and release of cryptic genetic variation. Given this structure, I then predict its manifestation in the fossil record, discuss its similarity to quantum evolution and punctuated equili- brium, and argue that these describe macroevolutionary patterns concordant with PLE. Finally, I suggest methods and directions towards providing evidence of PLE in the fossil record and conclude that such endeavors are likely to be highly rewarding. KEYWORDS cryptic genetic variation, developmental bias, plasticity‐led evolution 1 | INTRODUCTION we might expect to result from PLE in the fossil record, anchor these patterns in historical work and suggest Developmental bias describes the manner in which methods and future directions for examining PLE using certain changes to development are more accessible to fossil data. evolution than others (Arthur, 2004). A key generator of developmental bias, and integral to understanding its role in evolution, is developmental plasticity, which 2 | CONSTRUCTIVE refers to an organism’s ability to adjust its phenotype in DEVELOPMENT response to environmental conditions (Laland et al., 2015; Schwab, Casasa, & Moczek, 2019).
    [Show full text]
  • Quantum Adaptivity in Biology: from Genetics to Cognition
    Masanari Asano · Andrei Khrennikov Masanori Ohya · Yoshiharu Tanaka Ichiro Yamato Quantum Adaptivity in Biology: From Genetics to Cognition Quantum Adaptivity in Biology: From Genetics to Cognition Masanari Asano • Andrei Khrennikov Masanori Ohya • Yoshiharu Tanaka Ichiro Yamato Quantum Adaptivity in Biology: From Genetics to Cognition 123 Masanari Asano Yoshiharu Tanaka Liberal Arts Division Information Science Tokuyama College of Technology Tokyo University of Science Tokuyama Tokyo Japan Japan Andrei Khrennikov Ichiro Yamato International Center for Mathematical Department of Biological Science Modeling in Physics and Cognitive and Technology Sciences Tokyo University of Science Linnaeus University Tokyo Växjö Japan Sweden Masanori Ohya Information Science Tokyo University of Science Tokyo Japan ISBN 978-94-017-9818-1 ISBN 978-94-017-9819-8 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-94-017-9819-8 Library of Congress Control Number: 2015933361 Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg New York London © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication.
    [Show full text]
  • Peripatric Speciation Andrew Z
    WikiJournal of Science, 2018, 1(2):8 doi: 10.15347/wjs/2018.008 Encyclopedic Review Article Peripatric speciation Andrew Z. Colvin* et al. Abstract Peripatric speciation is a mode of speciation in which a new species is formed from an isolated peripheral popu- lation.[1]:105 Since peripatric speciation resembles allopatric speciation, in that populations are isolated and pre- vented from exchanging genes, it can often be difficult to distinguish between them.[2] Nevertheless, the primary characteristic of peripatric speciation proposes that one of the populations is much smaller than the other. The terms peripatric and peripatry are often used in biogeography, referring to organisms whose ranges are closely adjacent but do not overlap, being separated where these organisms do not occur—for example on an oceanic island compared to the mainland. Such organisms are usually closely related (e.g. sister species); their distribution being the result of peripatric speciation. The concept of peripatric speciation was first outlined by the evolutionary biologist Ernst Mayr in 1954.[3] Since then, other alternative models have been developed such as centrifugal speciation, that posits that a species' pop- ulation experiences periods of geographic range expansion followed by shrinking periods, leaving behind small isolated populations on the periphery of the main population. Other models have involved the effects of sexual selection on limited population sizes. Other related models of peripherally isolated populations based on chromo- somal rearrangements have been developed such as budding speciation and quantum speciation. The existence of peripatric speciation is supported by observational evidence and laboratory experiments.[1]:106 Scientists observing the patterns of a species biogeographic distribution and its phylogenetic relationships are able to reconstruct the historical process by which they diverged.
    [Show full text]
  • George Gaylord Simpson and the Invention of Modern Paleontology
    Momentum Volume 1 Issue 2 Article 5 2012 Defining a Discipline: George Gaylord Simpson and the Invention of Modern Paleontology William S. Kearney [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/momentum Recommended Citation Kearney, William S. (2012) "Defining a Discipline: George Gaylord Simpson and the Invention of Modern Paleontology," Momentum: Vol. 1 : Iss. 2 , Article 5. Available at: https://repository.upenn.edu/momentum/vol1/iss2/5 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/momentum/vol1/iss2/5 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Defining a Discipline: George Gaylord Simpson and the Invention of Modern Paleontology Abstract Kearney studies how the paleontologist George Gaylord Simpson worked to define his own field of evolutionary paleontology. This journal article is available in Momentum: https://repository.upenn.edu/momentum/vol1/iss2/5 Kearney: Defining a Discipline: George Gaylord Simpson and the Invention o 1 Defining a Discipline George Gaylord Simpson and the Invention of Modern Paleontology William S. Kearney The synthesis of Darwinian evolution by natural selection and Mendelian genetics was the crowning achievement of early 20th century biology. It gave an underlying theoretical basis for every major field of biology from molecular biology to zoology to community ecology. And by no means was the synthesis the work of one man. American, British, German and Russian geneticists, naturalists, and mathematicians all provided major theoretical contributions to the synthesis. But in paleontology it was a different story. One man, George Gaylord Simpson, in one book, Tempo and Mode in Evolution, effectively synthesized evolutionary biology and paleontology.
    [Show full text]
  • A Review of Johnjoe Mcfadden's Book ``Quantum Evolution''
    BOOK REVIEW * Quantum Evolution by Johnjoe McFadden reviewed by Matthew J. Donald The Cavendish Laboratory, JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE, Great Britain. e-mail: [email protected] web site: http://people.bss.phy.cam.ac.uk/~mjd1014 J. McFadden, Quantum Evolution: Life in the Multiverse (HarperCollins, 2000), 338 pp, ISBN 0-00-255948-X, 0-00-655128-9. In \Quantum Evolution", Johnjoe McFadden makes far-reaching claims for the importance of quantum physics in the solution of problems in biological science. In this review, I shall discuss the relevance of unitary wavefunction dynamics to biological systems, analyse the inverse quantum Zeno effect, and argue that McFadden's use of quantum theory is deeply flawed. In the first half of his book, McFadden both discusses the biological problems he is interested in solving and gives an introduction to quantum theory. This part of the book is excellent popular science. It is well-written, competent, and fun. As far as the biology is concerned, McFadden, who is a molecular microbiologist, has very specific, and often controversial, opinions. Nevertheless, he does refer to a wide range of alternative points of view. He certainly managed to convince me that I had swallowed too easily the prevailing dogma (as found, for example, in chapter 1 of Albert et al. 1989) about the earliest (\prebiotic") stage in biological evolution during which the first self-replicating molecules appeared. McFadden argues that this stage seems to have happened quite fast in terms of the age of the Earth (perhaps within 100 million years) but that none of the proposed mechanisms, of which he discusses several, give anything like a complete and plausible picture of how to go from the early Earth's chemistry to the first cell.
    [Show full text]