Biology and Philosophy 21 (1):41-70 (2006)
Abstract |
Modern biology is ambivalent about the notion of evolutionary progress. Although most evolutionists imply in their writings that they still understand large-scale macroevolution as a somewhat progressive process, the use of the term “progress” is increasingly criticized and avoided. The paper shows that this ambivalence has a long history and results mainly from three problems: (1) The term “progress” carries historical, theoretical and social implications which are not congruent with modern knowledge of the course of evolution; (2) An incongruence exists between the notion of progress and Darwin’s theory of selection; (3) It is still not possible to give more than a rudimentary definition of the general patterns that were generated during the macroevolution of organisms. The paper consists of two parts: the first is a historical overview of the roots of the term “progress” in evolutionary biology, the second discusses epistemological, ontological and empirical problems. It is stated that the term has so far served as a metaphor for general patterns generated amongst organisms during evolution. It is proposed that a reformulation is needed to eliminate historically imported implications and that it is necessary to develop a concept for an appropriate empirical description of macroevolutionary patterns. This is the third way between, on the one hand, using the term indiscriminately and, on the other hand, ignoring the general patterns that evolution has produced.
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Keywords | Biological autonomy Complexity Directionality Epistemology Evolutionary progress History Macroevolution Trends |
Categories | (categorize this paper) |
DOI | 10.1007/s10539-005-0957-4 |
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References found in this work BETA
On the Origin of Species: By Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life.Charles Darwin - 1859 - Sterling.
The Growth of Biological Thought: Diversity, Evolution, and Inheritance.Ernst Mayr - 1982 - Belknap Press, 1982.
Adaptation and Natural Selection: A Critique of Some Current Evolutionary Thought.William C. Wimsatt - 1970 - Philosophy of Science 37 (4):620-623.
The Triple Helix: Gene, Organism, and Environment.Richard C. Lewontin - 2000 - Harvard University Press.
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Citations of this work BETA
Autonomy in Evolution: From Minimal to Complex Life.Kepa Ruiz-Mirazo & Alvaro Moreno - 2012 - Synthese 185 (1):21-52.
The Theory of Increasing Autonomy in Evolution: A Proposal for Understanding Macroevolutionary Innovations.Bernd Rosslenbroich - 2009 - Biology and Philosophy 24 (5):623-644.
The Selectionist Rationale for Evolutionary Progress.Hugh Desmond - 2021 - Biology and Philosophy 36 (3):1-26.
Natural Selection, Plasticity, and the Rationale for Largest-Scale Trends.Hugh Desmond - 2018 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 68:25-33.
The 'Division of Physiological Labour': The Birth, Life and Death of a Concept. [REVIEW]Emmanuel D’Hombres - 2012 - Journal of the History of Biology 45 (1):3 - 31.
View all 9 citations / Add more citations
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