Author: Snait Gissis
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262015145
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 474
Book Description
A reappraisal of Lamarckism--its historical impact and contemporary significance.
Transformations of Lamarckism
Author: Snait Gissis
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262015145
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 474
Book Description
A reappraisal of Lamarckism--its historical impact and contemporary significance.
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262015145
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 474
Book Description
A reappraisal of Lamarckism--its historical impact and contemporary significance.
Transformations of Lamarckism
Author: Snait B. Gissis
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262294737
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 474
Book Description
A reappraisal of Lamarckism—its historical impact and contemporary significance. In 1809—the year of Charles Darwin's birth—Jean-Baptiste Lamarck published Philosophie zoologique, the first comprehensive and systematic theory of biological evolution. The Lamarckian approach emphasizes the generation of developmental variations; Darwinism stresses selection. Lamarck's ideas were eventually eclipsed by Darwinian concepts, especially after the emergence of the Modern Synthesis in the twentieth century. The different approaches—which can be seen as complementary rather than mutually exclusive—have important implications for the kinds of questions biologists ask and for the type of research they conduct. Lamarckism has been evolving—or, in Lamarckian terminology, transforming—since Philosophie zoologique's description of biological processes mediated by "subtle fluids." Essays in this book focus on new developments in biology that make Lamarck's ideas relevant not only to modern empirical and theoretical research but also to problems in the philosophy of biology. Contributors discuss the historical transformations of Lamarckism from the 1820s to the 1940s, and the different understandings of Lamarck and Lamarckism; the Modern Synthesis and its emphasis on Mendelian genetics; theoretical and experimental research on such "Lamarckian" topics as plasticity, soft (epigenetic) inheritance, and individuality; and the importance of a developmental approach to evolution in the philosophy of biology. The book shows the advantages of a "Lamarckian" perspective on evolution. Indeed, the development-oriented approach it presents is becoming central to current evolutionary studies—as can be seen in the burgeoning field of Evo-Devo. Transformations of Lamarckism makes a unique contribution to this research.
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262294737
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 474
Book Description
A reappraisal of Lamarckism—its historical impact and contemporary significance. In 1809—the year of Charles Darwin's birth—Jean-Baptiste Lamarck published Philosophie zoologique, the first comprehensive and systematic theory of biological evolution. The Lamarckian approach emphasizes the generation of developmental variations; Darwinism stresses selection. Lamarck's ideas were eventually eclipsed by Darwinian concepts, especially after the emergence of the Modern Synthesis in the twentieth century. The different approaches—which can be seen as complementary rather than mutually exclusive—have important implications for the kinds of questions biologists ask and for the type of research they conduct. Lamarckism has been evolving—or, in Lamarckian terminology, transforming—since Philosophie zoologique's description of biological processes mediated by "subtle fluids." Essays in this book focus on new developments in biology that make Lamarck's ideas relevant not only to modern empirical and theoretical research but also to problems in the philosophy of biology. Contributors discuss the historical transformations of Lamarckism from the 1820s to the 1940s, and the different understandings of Lamarck and Lamarckism; the Modern Synthesis and its emphasis on Mendelian genetics; theoretical and experimental research on such "Lamarckian" topics as plasticity, soft (epigenetic) inheritance, and individuality; and the importance of a developmental approach to evolution in the philosophy of biology. The book shows the advantages of a "Lamarckian" perspective on evolution. Indeed, the development-oriented approach it presents is becoming central to current evolutionary studies—as can be seen in the burgeoning field of Evo-Devo. Transformations of Lamarckism makes a unique contribution to this research.
Lamarck's Evolution
Author: Ross Honeywill
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
ISBN: 1742660770
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 157
Book Description
The fascinating story of two men, 200 years apart, who risked ridicule and ruin for the ideas they believed in. In 18th-century France Jean Baptiste de Lamarck ignored scientific tradition and developed the first theory of evolution. But 50 years later Charles Darwin published his own work and Lamarck became a laughing stock. Contemporary academic Ted Steele was similarly mocked and nearly ruined for supporting Lamarck's idea that inherited characteristics could be passed on. Now cutting edge discoveries have vindicated him at last. Their story is a rollercoaster ride of intelligence, stubborn vision, despair and vindication.
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
ISBN: 1742660770
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 157
Book Description
The fascinating story of two men, 200 years apart, who risked ridicule and ruin for the ideas they believed in. In 18th-century France Jean Baptiste de Lamarck ignored scientific tradition and developed the first theory of evolution. But 50 years later Charles Darwin published his own work and Lamarck became a laughing stock. Contemporary academic Ted Steele was similarly mocked and nearly ruined for supporting Lamarck's idea that inherited characteristics could be passed on. Now cutting edge discoveries have vindicated him at last. Their story is a rollercoaster ride of intelligence, stubborn vision, despair and vindication.
The Meaning of Evolution
Author: Robert J. Richards
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226712052
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 224
Book Description
Did Darwin see evolution as progressive, directed toward producing ever more advanced forms of life? Most contemporary scholars say no. In this challenge to prevailing views, Robert J. Richards says yes—and argues that current perspectives on Darwin and his theory are both ideologically motivated and scientifically unsound. This provocative new reading of Darwin goes directly to the origins of evolutionary theory. Unlike most contemporary biologists or historians and philosophers of science, Richards holds that Darwin did concern himself with the idea of progress, or telos, as he constructed his theory. Richards maintains that Darwin drew on the traditional embryological meanings of the terms "evolution" and "descent with modification." In the 1600s and 1700s, "evolution" referred to the embryological theory of preformation, the idea that the embryo exists as a miniature adult of its own species that simply grows, or evolves, during gestation. By the early 1800s, however, the idea of preformation had become the concept of evolutionary recapitulation, the idea that during its development an embryo passes through a series of stages, each the adult form of an ancestor species. Richards demonstrates that, for Darwin, embryological recapitulation provided a graphic model of how species evolve. If an embryo could be seen as successively taking the structures and forms of its ancestral species, then one could see the evolution of life itself as a succession of species, each transformed from its ancestor. Richards works with the Origin and other published and archival material to show that these embryological models were much on Darwin's mind as he considered the evidence for descent with modification. Why do so many modern researchers find these embryological roots of Darwin's theory so problematic? Richards argues that the current tendency to see evolution as a process that is not progressive and not teleological imposes perspectives on Darwin that incorrectly deny the clearly progressive heart of his embryological models and his evolutionary theory.
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226712052
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 224
Book Description
Did Darwin see evolution as progressive, directed toward producing ever more advanced forms of life? Most contemporary scholars say no. In this challenge to prevailing views, Robert J. Richards says yes—and argues that current perspectives on Darwin and his theory are both ideologically motivated and scientifically unsound. This provocative new reading of Darwin goes directly to the origins of evolutionary theory. Unlike most contemporary biologists or historians and philosophers of science, Richards holds that Darwin did concern himself with the idea of progress, or telos, as he constructed his theory. Richards maintains that Darwin drew on the traditional embryological meanings of the terms "evolution" and "descent with modification." In the 1600s and 1700s, "evolution" referred to the embryological theory of preformation, the idea that the embryo exists as a miniature adult of its own species that simply grows, or evolves, during gestation. By the early 1800s, however, the idea of preformation had become the concept of evolutionary recapitulation, the idea that during its development an embryo passes through a series of stages, each the adult form of an ancestor species. Richards demonstrates that, for Darwin, embryological recapitulation provided a graphic model of how species evolve. If an embryo could be seen as successively taking the structures and forms of its ancestral species, then one could see the evolution of life itself as a succession of species, each transformed from its ancestor. Richards works with the Origin and other published and archival material to show that these embryological models were much on Darwin's mind as he considered the evidence for descent with modification. Why do so many modern researchers find these embryological roots of Darwin's theory so problematic? Richards argues that the current tendency to see evolution as a process that is not progressive and not teleological imposes perspectives on Darwin that incorrectly deny the clearly progressive heart of his embryological models and his evolutionary theory.
The Spirit of System
Author: Richard Wellington Burkhardt
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674833180
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 342
Book Description
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck was a biological Janus, at once a highly competent taxonomist in a traditional mold and a bold, almost visionary, philosopher of nature who aspired to contrive an all-embracing "physics of the earth" by sheer force of intellect. Lamarck is generally remembered only for his ideas about the inheritance of acquired characters, ideas he did not originate or take special credit for, ideas that were only one part of his broad theory of evolution. In this, the first modern book-length study of Lamarck, Richard Burkhardt examines the origin and development of Lamarck's theory of organic evolution, the major theory prior to Darwin.
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674833180
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 342
Book Description
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck was a biological Janus, at once a highly competent taxonomist in a traditional mold and a bold, almost visionary, philosopher of nature who aspired to contrive an all-embracing "physics of the earth" by sheer force of intellect. Lamarck is generally remembered only for his ideas about the inheritance of acquired characters, ideas he did not originate or take special credit for, ideas that were only one part of his broad theory of evolution. In this, the first modern book-length study of Lamarck, Richard Burkhardt examines the origin and development of Lamarck's theory of organic evolution, the major theory prior to Darwin.
Zoological Philosophy
Author: Jean Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet de Lamarck
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Physiology, Comparative
Languages : en
Pages : 512
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Physiology, Comparative
Languages : en
Pages : 512
Book Description
Challenging the Modern Synthesis
Author: Philippe Huneman
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199377170
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 369
Book Description
Since its origin in the early 20th century, the Modern Synthesis theory of evolution has grown to become the orthodox view on the process of organic evolution. Its central defining feature is the prominence it accords to genes in the explanation of evolutionary dynamics. Since the advent of the 21st century, however, the Modern Synthesis has been subject to repeated and sustained challenges. These are largely empirically driven. In the last two decades, evolutionary biology has witnessed unprecedented growth in the understanding of those processes that underwrite the development of organisms and the inheritance of characters. The empirical advances usher in challenges to the conceptual foundations of evolutionary theory. The extent to which the new biology challenges the Modern Synthesis has been the subject of lively debate. Many current commentators charge that the new biology of the 21st century calls for a revision, extension, or wholesale rejection of the Modern Synthesis Theory of evolution. Defenders of the Modern Synthesis maintain that the theory can accommodate the exciting new advances in biology. The original essays collected in this volume survey the various challenges to the Modern Synthesis arising from the new biology of the 21st century. The authors are evolutionary biologists, philosophers of science, and historians of biology from Europe and North America. Each of the essays discusses a particular challenge to the Modern Synthesis treatment of inheritance, development, or adaptation. Taken together, the essays cover a spectrum of views, from those that contend that the Modern Synthesis can rise to the challenges of the new biology, with little or no revision required, to those that call for the abandonment of the Modern Synthesis. The collection will be of interest to researchers and students in evolutionary biology, and the philosophy and history of the biological sciences.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199377170
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 369
Book Description
Since its origin in the early 20th century, the Modern Synthesis theory of evolution has grown to become the orthodox view on the process of organic evolution. Its central defining feature is the prominence it accords to genes in the explanation of evolutionary dynamics. Since the advent of the 21st century, however, the Modern Synthesis has been subject to repeated and sustained challenges. These are largely empirically driven. In the last two decades, evolutionary biology has witnessed unprecedented growth in the understanding of those processes that underwrite the development of organisms and the inheritance of characters. The empirical advances usher in challenges to the conceptual foundations of evolutionary theory. The extent to which the new biology challenges the Modern Synthesis has been the subject of lively debate. Many current commentators charge that the new biology of the 21st century calls for a revision, extension, or wholesale rejection of the Modern Synthesis Theory of evolution. Defenders of the Modern Synthesis maintain that the theory can accommodate the exciting new advances in biology. The original essays collected in this volume survey the various challenges to the Modern Synthesis arising from the new biology of the 21st century. The authors are evolutionary biologists, philosophers of science, and historians of biology from Europe and North America. Each of the essays discusses a particular challenge to the Modern Synthesis treatment of inheritance, development, or adaptation. Taken together, the essays cover a spectrum of views, from those that contend that the Modern Synthesis can rise to the challenges of the new biology, with little or no revision required, to those that call for the abandonment of the Modern Synthesis. The collection will be of interest to researchers and students in evolutionary biology, and the philosophy and history of the biological sciences.
Darwin and the Emergence of Evolutionary Theories of Mind and Behavior
Author: Robert J. Richards
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226712001
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 719
Book Description
With insight and wit, Robert J. Richards focuses on the development of evolutionary theories of mind and behavior from their first distinct appearance in the eighteenth century to their controversial state today. Particularly important in the nineteenth century were Charles Darwin's ideas about instinct, reason, and morality, which Richards considers against the background of Darwin's personality, training, scientific and cultural concerns, and intellectual community. Many critics have argued that the Darwinian revolution stripped nature of moral purpose and ethically neutered the human animal. Richards contends, however, that Darwin, Herbert Spencer, and their disciples attempted to reanimate moral life, believing that the evolutionary process gave heart to unselfish, altruistic behavior. "Richards's book is now the obvious introduction to the history of ideas about mind and behavior in the nineteenth century."—Mark Ridley, Times Literary Supplement "Not since the publication of Michael Ghiselin's The Triumph of the Darwinian Method has there been such an ambitious, challenging, and methodologically self-conscious interpretation of the rise and development and evolutionary theories and Darwin's role therein."—John C. Greene, Science "His book . . . triumphantly achieves the goal of all great scholarship: it not only informs us, but shows us why becoming thus informed is essential to understanding our own issues and projects."—Daniel C. Dennett, Philosophy of Science
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226712001
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 719
Book Description
With insight and wit, Robert J. Richards focuses on the development of evolutionary theories of mind and behavior from their first distinct appearance in the eighteenth century to their controversial state today. Particularly important in the nineteenth century were Charles Darwin's ideas about instinct, reason, and morality, which Richards considers against the background of Darwin's personality, training, scientific and cultural concerns, and intellectual community. Many critics have argued that the Darwinian revolution stripped nature of moral purpose and ethically neutered the human animal. Richards contends, however, that Darwin, Herbert Spencer, and their disciples attempted to reanimate moral life, believing that the evolutionary process gave heart to unselfish, altruistic behavior. "Richards's book is now the obvious introduction to the history of ideas about mind and behavior in the nineteenth century."—Mark Ridley, Times Literary Supplement "Not since the publication of Michael Ghiselin's The Triumph of the Darwinian Method has there been such an ambitious, challenging, and methodologically self-conscious interpretation of the rise and development and evolutionary theories and Darwin's role therein."—John C. Greene, Science "His book . . . triumphantly achieves the goal of all great scholarship: it not only informs us, but shows us why becoming thus informed is essential to understanding our own issues and projects."—Daniel C. Dennett, Philosophy of Science
Thomistic Philosophy in the Face of Evolutionary Fact
Author: Juan Eduardo Carreño Pavez
Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand
ISBN: 386838295X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 766
Book Description
The purpose of this book is to integrate the fact of biological evolution (which, as such, should not be confused with the evolutionary theories and ideologies supposedly based on that fact) with the principles and contents of Thomistic philosophy. After identifying the main difficulties involved in this endeavor—and how they have been addressed by other authors within the Thomistic tradition—we present our own thesis. We begin by arguing that the diversity of species and varieties of corporeal living beings is consistent with Aquinas’ thought. Next, we distinguish between two forms of evolution, namely, intraspecific and transspecific; following the central tenets of Aquinas’ philosophy, the ontological significance and causalities involved in both types of evolution are analyzed. We complete this exposition by offering a general overview of evolutionary history in light of the criteria presented, with emphasis on anthropogenesis. Juan Eduardo Carreño Pavez (1976) holds a PhD in Medical Sciences and a PhD in Philosophy. After completing a postdoc at the Center for Medieval Philosophy, Georgetown University, he returned to the University of los Andes, Chile, where he has a position as Associate Professor. His research has focused on Thomas Aquinas’ thought, mediaeval philosophy, and the dialogue between theology, philosophy and science. He is the author of several articles and monographs, including Vivere viventibus est esse: la vida como perfección del ser en la obra de Tomás de Aquino (Eunsa, 2020), and Una reconsideración del estatus de la mente animal y humana (Ril Editores, 2024).
Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand
ISBN: 386838295X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 766
Book Description
The purpose of this book is to integrate the fact of biological evolution (which, as such, should not be confused with the evolutionary theories and ideologies supposedly based on that fact) with the principles and contents of Thomistic philosophy. After identifying the main difficulties involved in this endeavor—and how they have been addressed by other authors within the Thomistic tradition—we present our own thesis. We begin by arguing that the diversity of species and varieties of corporeal living beings is consistent with Aquinas’ thought. Next, we distinguish between two forms of evolution, namely, intraspecific and transspecific; following the central tenets of Aquinas’ philosophy, the ontological significance and causalities involved in both types of evolution are analyzed. We complete this exposition by offering a general overview of evolutionary history in light of the criteria presented, with emphasis on anthropogenesis. Juan Eduardo Carreño Pavez (1976) holds a PhD in Medical Sciences and a PhD in Philosophy. After completing a postdoc at the Center for Medieval Philosophy, Georgetown University, he returned to the University of los Andes, Chile, where he has a position as Associate Professor. His research has focused on Thomas Aquinas’ thought, mediaeval philosophy, and the dialogue between theology, philosophy and science. He is the author of several articles and monographs, including Vivere viventibus est esse: la vida como perfección del ser en la obra de Tomás de Aquino (Eunsa, 2020), and Una reconsideración del estatus de la mente animal y humana (Ril Editores, 2024).
Philosophy of Biology Before Biology
Author: Cécilia Bognon-Küss
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317227557
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 372
Book Description
The use of the term "biology" to refer to a unified science of life emerged around 1800 (most prominently by scientists such as Lamarck and Treviranus, although scholarship has indicated its usage at least 30-40 years earlier). The interplay between philosophy and natural science has also accompanied the constitution of biology as a science. Philosophy of Biology Before Biology examines biological and protobiological writings from the mid-eighteenth century to the early nineteenth century (from Buffon to Cuvier; Kant to Oken; and Kielmeyer) with two major sets of questions in mind: What were the distinctive conceptual features of the move toward biology as a science? What were the relations and differences between the "philosophical" focus on the nature of living entities, and the "scientific" focus? This insightful volume produces a fresh but also systematic perspective both on the history of biology as a science and on the early versions of, in the 1960s in a post-positivist context, the philosophy of biology. It will appeal to students and researchers interested in fields such as history of science, philosophy of science and biology.
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317227557
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 372
Book Description
The use of the term "biology" to refer to a unified science of life emerged around 1800 (most prominently by scientists such as Lamarck and Treviranus, although scholarship has indicated its usage at least 30-40 years earlier). The interplay between philosophy and natural science has also accompanied the constitution of biology as a science. Philosophy of Biology Before Biology examines biological and protobiological writings from the mid-eighteenth century to the early nineteenth century (from Buffon to Cuvier; Kant to Oken; and Kielmeyer) with two major sets of questions in mind: What were the distinctive conceptual features of the move toward biology as a science? What were the relations and differences between the "philosophical" focus on the nature of living entities, and the "scientific" focus? This insightful volume produces a fresh but also systematic perspective both on the history of biology as a science and on the early versions of, in the 1960s in a post-positivist context, the philosophy of biology. It will appeal to students and researchers interested in fields such as history of science, philosophy of science and biology.