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Contemporary interest in Darwin rises from a general ideal of what Darwin’s books ought to contain: a theory of transformation of species by natural selection. However, a reader opening Darwin’s masterpiece, On the Origin of Species, today may be struck by the fact that this "selectionist" view does not deliver the key to many aspects of the book. Without contesting the importance of natural selection to Darwinism, much less supposing that a fully-formed "Darwinism" stepped out of Darwin’s head in 1859, this innovative volume aims to return to the text of the Origin itself. Revisiting the 'Origin of Species' focuses on Darwin as theorising on the origin of variations; showing that Darwin himself was never a pan-selectionist (in contrast to some of his followers) but was concerned with "other means of modification" (which makes him an evolutionary pluralist). Furthermore, in contrast to common textbook presentations of "Darwinism", Hoquet stresses the fact that On the Origin of Species can lend itself to several contradictory interpretations. Thus, this volume identifies where rival interpretations have taken root; to unearth the ambiguities readers of Darwin have latched onto as they have produced a myriad of Darwinian legacies, each more or less faithful enough to the originator’s thought. Emphasising the historical features, complexities and intricacies of Darwin’s argument, Revisiting the 'Origin of Species' can be used by any lay readers opening Darwin’s On the Origin of Species. This volume will also appeal to students and researchers interested in areas such as Evolution, Natural Selection, Scientific Translations and Origins of Life.
Presents an in-depth comparison of Darwin's theory of evolution versus the theory of creation and the theory of abrupt appearance.
Major inconsistencies in Darwin's theory of the origin of species by natural selection remained unresolved for over a century until the results of recent research in various genome projects led to the theory's reinterpretation. Reviewing this new information, Donald Forsdyke, a laboratory scientist involved in genome research, wondered whether similar discoveries could have been made a century earlier, by one of Darwin's contemporaries. The Origin of Species Revisited describes his investigation into the history of evolutionary biology and its startling conclusion. The trail led first to Joseph Hooker and Thomas Huxley, who had been both the theory's strongest supporters and its most penetrating critics, and eventually to the Victorian George Romanes and Darwin's young research associate William Bateson. Although these men were well-known, their resolution of the origin of species paradox has either been ignored (Romanes), or ignored and reviled (Bateson). Four years after Darwin's death, Romanes published a theory of the origin of species by means of "physiological selection" that resolved the inconsistencies in Darwin's theory and introduced the idea of a "peculiarity" of the reproductive system that allowed selective fertility between "physiological complements." Forsdyke argues that the chemical basis of the origin of species by physiological selection is actually the species-dependent component of the base composition of DNA, showing that Romanes thus anticipated modern biochemistry. Using this new perspective Forsdyke considers some of the outstanding problems in biology and medicine, including the question of how "self" is distinguished from "not-self" by members of different species. Finally he examines the political and ideological forces that led to Romanes' contribution to evolutionary biology remaining unappreciated until now.
This book contests the general view that natural selection constitutes the explanatory core of evolutionary biology. It invites the reader to consider an alternative view which favors a more complete and multidimensional interpretation. It is common to present the 1930-1960 period as characterized by the rise of the Modern Synthesis, an event structured around two main explanatory commitments: (1) Gradual evolution is explained by small genetic changes (variations) oriented by natural selection, a process leading to adaptation; (2) Evolutionary trends and speciational events are macroevolutionary phenomena that can be accounted for solely in terms of the extension of processes and mechanisms occurring at the previous microevolutionary level. On this view, natural selection holds a central explanatory role in evolutionary theory - one that presumably reaches back to Charles Darwin's Origin of Species - a view also accompanied by the belief that the field of evolutionary biology is organized around a profound divide: theories relying on strong selective factors and those appealing only to weak ones. If one reads the new analyses presented in this volume by biologists, historians and philosophers, this divide seems to be collapsing at a rapid pace, opening an era dedicated to the search for a new paradigm for the development of evolutionary biology. Contrary to popular belief, scholars' position on natural selection is not in itself a significant discriminatory factor between most evolutionists. In fact, the intellectual space is quite limited, if not non-existent, between, on the one hand, "Darwinists", who play down the central role of natural selection in evolutionary explanations, and, on the other hand, "non-Darwinists", who use it in a list of other evolutionary mechanisms. The "mechanism-centered" approach to evolutionary biology is too incomplete to fully make sense of its development. In this book the labels created under the traditional historiography - "Darwinian Revolution", "Eclipse of Darwinism", "Modern Synthesis", "Post-Synthetic Developments" - are thus re-evaluated. This book will not only appeal to researchers working in evolutionary biology, but also to historians and philosophers."
A staunch and persuasive defense for the scientific validity of Creationism. "The most closely reasoned and best documented anti-Darwinist publication which I have yet seen . . . a monumental job . . . the evolutionary intellectuals will not be able to refute it".--Dr. Henry M. Morris, President of the Institute for Creation Research. Shrinkwrapped.
It took Charles Darwin more than twenty years to publish this book, in part because he realized that it would ignite a firestorm of controversy. The Origin of Species first appeared in 1859, and it remains a continuing source of conflict to this day. Even among those who reject its ideas, however, the work's impact is undeniable. In science, philosophy, and theology, this is a book that changed the world. In addition to its status as the focus of a dramatic turning point in scientific thought, On the Origin of Species stands as a remarkably readable study. Carefully reasoned and well-documented in its arguments, the work offers coherent views of natural selection, adaptation, the struggle for existence, survival of the fittest, and other concepts that form the foundation of modern evolutionary theory.--Amazon.com.