575.01/P.E
EVOLUTIONARY THEORY: PATHS INTO THE FUTURE
Edited by
JEFFREY W. POLLARD
Contents
Chapter 1: the scientific status of modern evolutionary theory
Statement of evolutionary theory
Criticism 1. Modern evolutionary theory: metaphysics or science?
The criterion of falsifiable predictions
Criticism 2. The theory of descent (Hypothesis 1)
Criticism 3. Is natural selection a tautology? (Hypothesis 2)
Criticism 4. Explanatory and predictive power (Hypothesis 3)
Variability in natural populations
Function: a product of selection
Gradualism – Adaptation – Complexity - Variable rates
A bsence of planning ــlack of perfection
Criticism 5. Lack of evolutionary laws
Criticism 6. Social and political factors
Discussions and conclusions
Chapter 2: Cladistics: theory, purpose and evolutionary implications
Comparative biology and caldistics
Some basic terms of comparative biology - The principles of phylogenetic systematics
The phylogenetic versus evolutionary and phenetic taxonomy: the goal and the means
Cladistics and evolutionary systematics - Cladistics and phenetic taxonomy
The evolutionary implications of cladistics
Hennigian cladistics and transformed caldistics - Cladistics and fossils
The future of cladistics
Cladistics, society, and people - Predictiveness of cladistics
Chapter 3: Hierarchies and history
Discovering nature’s hierarchy
Congruence and the meaning of evolution
Inferring evolutionary change
Chapter 4: Changing from an evolutionary to a generative paradigm in biology
Typical from and homology as revealed in tetrapod limb morphology
The problem of biological from in terms of the evolutionary paradigm
Morphogenetic mechanisms of limb formation
The generative paradigm in biology
Chapter 5: The complexity of organisms
Complexity - The principle of minimum increase in complexity
Repeated structures - Form
Three specific applications
Williston’s law - Parallel evolution - Mimicry
Chapter 6: Evolution as an entropic phenomenom
An alternative theory
The principle of irreversibility - The principle of individuality
The principle of intrinsic constraints - The principle of compensatory change
Outline of non-equilibrium evolution
The nature of biological systems - Information and cohesion - Entropy
Dynamics of evolution
Evolution within species - Speciation
Thresholds and mechanisms of change - Extrinsic factors
Testing the theory
Potential falsifiers
Is evolution an entropic phenomenon?
Entropy changes
What does the theory explain?
Research programmes
Chapter 7: Movable genetic elements and evolution
Overview of movable genetic elements
Some movable genetic elements
Structure of Drosophila transposons
Retroviruses and retrovirus-like elements
Biological effects of movable genetic elements
Genetic effects - Evolution of mobile DNA
Possible evolutionary roles of mobile DNA
Chapter 8: Environmentally induced DNA changes
Examples
Gene amplification and drug resistance
Environmentally induced heritable changes in flax
Somoclonal variation
Discussion
Chapter 9: The somatic selection of acquired characters
The somatic selection hypothesis for the inheritance of acquired characters
Evidence in support of the somatic selection hypothesis
The vector for somatically derived genetic information
Future paths of experimentation
Conclusion
Chapter 10: Evolutionary epistemology
The traditional theory of knowledge - Criticism
Life and the acquisition of knowledge - Language
How did the descriptive function evolve?
From the amoeba to Einstein - Three worlds
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