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3 - Darwinian Evolution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2021

Michael Ruse
Affiliation:
Florida State University
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Summary

Humans are the end point of almost four billion years of evolution. The generally accepted explanatory theory is Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution through natural selection, brought on by a struggle for existence. Darwin bolstered his case through a “consilience of inductions,” showing how evolution through selection explained in many areas right across the life sciences – behavior, fossil record, geographical distributions, morphology, taxonomy, and embryology. The missing element was an adequate theory of heredity, supplied by the Moravian monk Gregor Mendel. A major problem was why random change in the units of heredity, mutations of the genes, should provide enough suitable material for selection to work on. Theodosius Dobzhansky solved this problem by hypothesizing that all populations contain much variation, quite enough for selection to work on. His student, Richard Lewontin, using molecular techniques – gel electrophoresis – showed that Dobzhansky’s hypothesis was right.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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  • Darwinian Evolution
  • Michael Ruse, Florida State University
  • Book: A Philosopher Looks at Human Beings
  • Online publication: 20 May 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108907057.004
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  • Darwinian Evolution
  • Michael Ruse, Florida State University
  • Book: A Philosopher Looks at Human Beings
  • Online publication: 20 May 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108907057.004
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Darwinian Evolution
  • Michael Ruse, Florida State University
  • Book: A Philosopher Looks at Human Beings
  • Online publication: 20 May 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108907057.004
Available formats
×