Sign-In
Cart
The Modern Synthesis: Evolution and the Organization of Information
Paperback
Series: Evolutionary Biology - New Perspectives on Its Development, Book 4
ISBN13: 9783030864248
Publisher: Springer Nature
Published: Nov 13 2022
Pages: 239
Weight: 0.81
Height: 0.55 Width: 6.14 Depth: 9.21
Language: English
This book is about evolutionary theory. It deals with aspects of its history to focus upon explanatory structures at work in the various forms of evolutionary theory - as such this is also a work of philosophy. Its focus lies on recent debates about the Modern Synthesis and what might be lacking in that synthesis. These claims have been most clearly made by those calling for an Extended Evolutionary Synthesis. The author argues that the difference between these two positions is the consequence of two things. First, whether evolution is a considered as solely a population level phenomenon or also a theory of form. Second, the use of information concepts.
In this book Darwinian evolution is positioned as a general theory of evolution, a theory that gave evolution a technical meaning as the statistical outcome of variation, competition, and inheritance. The Modern Synthesis (MS) within biology, has a particular focus, a particular architecture to its explanations that renders it a special theory of evolution.
After providing a history of Darwinian theory and the MS, recent claims and exhortations for an Extended Evolutionary Synthesis (EES) are examined that see the need for the inclusion of non-genetic modes of inheritance and also developmental processes. Much of this argument is based around claims that the MS adopts a particular view of information that has privileged the gene as an instructional unit in the emergence of form. The author analyses the uses of information and claims that neither side of the debate explicitly and formally deals with this concept. A more formal view of information is provided which challenges the EES claims about the role of genes in MS explanations of form whilst being consilient with their own interests in developmental biology. It is concluded that the MS implicitly assumed this formal view of information whilst using information terms in a colloquial manner. In the final chapter the idea that the MS is an informational theory that acts to corral more specific phenomenal accounts, is mooted. As such the book argues for a constrained pluralism within biology, where the MS describes those constraints.
Also in
Evolution
Beyond Darwin: How Epigenetics, Quantum Science, and Cooperation Shape Humanity's Future
Lipton, Bruce H.
Hardcover
Return of the God Hypothesis: Three Scientific Discoveries That Reveal the Mind Behind the Universe
Meyer, Stephen C.
Paperback
Togetherness: Symbiosis and the Hidden Story of Life's Greatest Collaborations
Hooper, Rowan
Hardcover
Time's Second Arrow: Evolution, Order, and a New Law of Nature
Wong, Michael L.
Hazen, Robert M.
Hardcover
A Brief History of Intelligence: Evolution, Ai, and the Five Breakthroughs That Made Our Brains
Bennett, Max S.
Paperback
Force of Nature: Understanding Evolution's Deepest Logic-And Putting It to Use
Jones, Owen D.
Hardcover
The Rise and Reign of the Mammals: A New History, from the Shadow of the Dinosaurs to Us
Brusatte, Steve
Paperback
Probability Zero: The Mathematical Impossibility of the Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection
Day, Vox
Hardcover
The Story of CO2 Is the Story of Everything: How Carbon Dioxide Made Our World
Brannen, Peter
Hardcover
Your Inner Fish: A Journey Into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body
Shubin, Neil
Paperback
The Call of the Honeyguide: What Science Tells Us about How to Live Well with the Rest of Life
Dunn, Rob
Hardcover
The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race
Isaacson, Walter
Paperback
The Story of CO2 Is the Story of Everything: How Carbon Dioxide Made Our World
Brannen, Peter
Paperback
The Last Days of the Dinosaurs: An Asteroid, Extinction, and the Beginning of Our World
Black, Riley
Paperback
Tamed: From Wild to Domesticated, the Ten Animals and Plants That Changed Human History
Roberts, Alice
Paperback
Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid: The Fraught and Fascinating Biology of Climate Change
Hanson, Thor
Paperback
The Origin of Politics: How Evolution and Ideology Shape the Fate of Nations
Wade, Nicholas
Hardcover
Living on Earth: Forests, Corals, Consciousness, and the Making of the World
Godfrey-Smith, Peter
Paperback
The Ends of the World: Volcanic Apocalypses, Lethal Oceans, and Our Quest to Understand Earth's Past Mass Extinctions
Brannen, Peter
Paperback
The Secret of Our Success: How Culture Is Driving Human Evolution, Domesticating Our Species, and Making Us Smarter
Henrich, Joseph
Paperback
Finding Darwin's God: A Scientist's Search for Common Ground Between God and Evolution
Miller, Kenneth R.
Paperback
Return of the God Hypothesis: Three Scientific Discoveries That Reveal the Mind Behind the Universe
Meyer, Stephen C.
Hardcover
Human Errors: A Panorama of Our Glitches, from Pointless Bones to Broken Genes
Lents, Nathan H.
Paperback
Ends of the Earth: Journeys to the Polar Regions in Search of Life, the Cosmos, and Our Future
Shubin, Neil
Hardcover
The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design
Dawkins, Richard
Paperback
The Rise and Reign of the Mammals: A New History, from the Shadow of the Dinosaurs to Us
Brusatte, Steve
Hardcover
The Secret World of Denisovans: The Epic Story of the Ancient Cousins to Sapiens and Neanderthals
Condemi, Silvana
Savatier, François
Hardcover
Darwin's Doubt: The Explosive Origin of Animal Life and the Case for Intelligent Design
Meyer, Stephen C.
Paperback
Everything Evolves: Why Evolution Explains More Than We Think, from Proteins to Politics
Vellend, Mark
Hardcover
Sounds Wild and Broken: Sonic Marvels, Evolution's Creativity, and the Crisis of Sensory Extinction
Haskell, David George
Paperback
The Serengeti Rules: The Quest to Discover How Life Works and Why It Matters
Carroll, Sean B.
Paperback
The Language Puzzle: Piecing Together the Six-Million-Year Story of How Words Evolved
Mithen, Steven
Hardcover
Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past
Reich, David
Paperback
The Social Leap: The New Evolutionary Science of Who We Are, Where We Come From, and What Makes Us Happy
Von Hippel, William
Paperback
Impossible Monsters: Dinosaurs, Darwin, and the Battle Between Science and Religion
Taylor, Michael
Paperback
The Decline and Fall of the Human Empire: Why Our Species Is on the Edge of Extinction
Gee, Henry
Hardcover
The Secret Life of the Universe: An Astrobiologist's Search for the Origins and Frontiers of Life
Cabrol, Nathalie A.
Paperback
Nature's Nether Regions: What the Sex Lives of Bugs, Birds, and Beasts Tell Us About Evolution, Biodiversity, and Ourselves
Schilthuizen, Menno
Paperback
The Origins of the New: Novelty and Innovation in the History of Life, Culture, and Technology
Erwin, Douglas H.
Hardcover
The Zoologist's Guide to the Galaxy: What Animals on Earth Reveal about Aliens--And Ourselves
Kershenbaum, Arik
Paperback
The Secret World of Denisovans: The Epic Story of the Ancient Cousins to Sapiens and Neanderthals
Savatier, François
Condemi, Silvana
Paperback
The Evolution of Imperfection: The Science of Why We Aren't and Can't Be Perfect
Hurst, Laurence D.
Hardcover
The Primate Myth: Why the Latest Science Leads Us to a New Theory of Human Nature
Leaf, Jonathan
Paperback
The Sexual Evolution: How 500 Million Years of Sex, Gender, and Mating Shape Modern Relationships
Lents, Nathan H.
Paperback
Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness Are the Keys to Understanding the True Nature of the Universe
Lanza, Robert
Berman, Bob
Paperback
Monarchs of the Sea: The Extraordinary 500-Million-Year History of Cephalopods
Staaf, Danna
Paperback
The Lost World of the Dinosaurs: Uncovering the Secrets of the Prehistoric Age
Schmitt, Armin
Hardcover
The Problem of Increasing Human Energy: With Special Reference to the Harnessing of the Sun's Energy
Tesla, Nikola
Paperback
Horseshoe Crabs and Velvet Worms: The Story of the Animals and Plants That Time Has Left Behind
Fortey, Richard
Paperback
The Decline and Fall of the Human Empire: Why Our Species Is on the Edge of Extinction
Gee, Henry
Paperback
Birds, Sex and Beauty: The Extraordinary Implications of Charles Darwin's Strangest Idea
Ridley, Matt
Hardcover
Unkind Mind: The Neuroscience of Why Women Are So Hard on Themselves--And How to Quiet Your Inner Critic for Good
Holmberg, Betsy
Paperback
Evolution's Rainbow: Diversity, Gender, and Sexuality in Nature and People
Roughgarden, Joan
Paperback
Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong-And the New Research That's Rewriting the Story
Saini, Angela
Paperback
Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, and the Economic World
Kelly, Kevin
Paperback
The Evolution of Beauty: How Darwin's Forgotten Theory of Mate Choice Shapes the Animal World - And Us
Prum, Richard O.
Paperback
The Earth: A Biography of Life: The Story of Life on Our Planet Through 47 Incredible Organisms
Panciroli, Elsa
Paperback
The Fool and the Heretic: How Two Scientists Moved Beyond Labels to a Christian Dialogue about Creation and Evolution
Wood, Todd Charles
Falk, Darrel R.
Paperback
40 Days and 40 Nights: Darwin, Intelligent Design, God, Oxycontin(r), and Other Oddities on Trial in Pennsylvania
Chapman, Matthew
Paperback
Exercised: Why Something We Never Evolved to Do Is Healthy and Rewarding
Lieberman, Daniel E.
Paperback
The Origin of Species and the Voyage of the 'Beagle': Introduction by Richard Dawkins
Darwin, Charles
Hardcover