Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-m9kch Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-03T21:41:11.542Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

7 - Relations Among Fields in the Evolutionary Synthesis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 August 2009

Lindley Darden
Lindley Darden
Affiliation:
University of Maryland, College Park
Get access

Summary

INTRODUCTION

The synthetic theory of evolution is a multilevel theory that serves to synthesize knowledge from fields at different levels of organization. It provides a solution to the problem of the origin of species. Biologists attempted to solve this problem for years, during which time the key fields emerged and developed to the point that the synthesis was possible. Prior to the synthesis, debate occurred about what components were necessary to solve the problem and alternative theories were proposed. Had any of the prior theories been correct, then the fields that exist within evolutionary studies would have been different. Which fields exist is a contingent fact about the nature of the world and the way we study it. Which fields are synthesized to solve certain problems is contingent on the nature of the solution and the stage of development of various fields at the time the solution is proposed.

Relations among levels of organization, fields of study, and the problem of the origin of species are the subjects of this chapter. The focus is on the synthetic theory of evolution as proposed by Theodosius Dobzhansky in 1937, the multiple levels within it, the knowledge from different fields that it synthesized, and its various predecessors. The final section discusses the concept of a synthetic theory and contrasts that with previously studied interfield theories.

THE SYNTHETIC THEORY

Theodosius Dobzhansky published the seminal book outlining the evolutionary synthesis in 1937: Genetics and the Origin of Species.

Type
Chapter
Information
Reasoning in Biological Discoveries
Essays on Mechanisms, Interfield Relations, and Anomaly Resolution
 , pp. 170 - 181
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Darden, Lindley (1976), “Reasoning in Scientific Change: Charles Darwin, Hugo de Vries, and the Discovery of Segregation,” Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science 7: 127–169.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Darden, Lindley (1977), “William Bateson and The Promise of Mendelism,” Journal of the History of Biology 10: 87–106.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Darden, Lindley (1980), “Theory Construction in Genetics,” in Thomas Nickles (ed.), Scientific Discovery, Case Studies. Dordrecht: Reidel, pp. 151–170.Google Scholar
Darden, Lindley and Maull, Nancy (1977), “Interfield Theories,” Philosophy of Science 44: 43–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Darwin, Charles ([1859] 1966), On the Origin of Species, A Facsimile of the First Edition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Darwin, Charles (1868), The Variation of Plants and Animals under Domestication. 2 vols. New York: Orange Judd and Co.Google Scholar
Dobzhansky, Theodosius (1937), Genetics and the Origin of Species. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Galton, Francis (1871), “Experiments in Pangenesis,” Proceedings of the Royal Society (Biology) 19: 393–404.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kellogg, Vernon (1908), Darwinism Today. New York: Henry Holt.Google Scholar
Kottler, Malcolm (1979), “Hugo de Vries and the Rediscovery of Mendel's Laws,” Annals of Science 36: 517–538.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mayr, Ernst (1982), The Growth of Biological Thought. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Mayr, Ernst and Provine, William (eds.) (1980), The Evolutionary Synthesis. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Provine, William (1971), The Origin of Theoretical Population Genetics. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Vorzimmer, Peter (1970), Charles Darwin, The Years of Controversy: The Origin of Species and its Critics 1859–1882. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
Vries, Hugo de ([1900] 1966), “The Law of Segregation of Hybrids.” Translated from German and reprinted in Stern, C. and Sherwood, E. (eds.), The Origin of Genetics: A Mendel Sourcebook. San Francisco, CA: W. H. Freeman, pp. 107–117.Google Scholar
Vries, Hugo ([1903–4] [1909–10] 1969), The Mutation Theory, 2 vols., translated from German by J. B. Farmer and A. D. Darbishire. New York: Kraus Reprint Co.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

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 Dropbox.

Available formats
×

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.

Available formats
×