The Structure of Evolutionary Theory / Stephen Jay Gould.
Gould, Stephen Jay, author.
2002
QH366.2 .G663 2002eb
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Title
The Structure of Evolutionary Theory / Stephen Jay Gould.
Author
Gould, Stephen Jay, author.
ISBN
9780674417922
DOI
https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674417922
Published
Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, [2002]
Copyright
©2002
Language
English
Language Note
In English.
Description
1 online resource (1464 p.)
Item Number
10.4159/9780674417922 doi
Call Number
QH366.2 .G663 2002eb
Dewey Decimal Classification
576.8
Summary
The world's most revered and eloquent interpreter of evolutionary ideas offers here a work of explanatory force unprecedented in our time-a landmark publication, both for its historical sweep and for its scientific vision. With characteristic attention to detail, Stephen Jay Gould first describes the content and discusses the history and origins of the three core commitments of classical Darwinism: that natural selection works on organisms, not genes or species; that it is almost exclusively the mechanism of adaptive evolutionary change; and that these changes are incremental, not drastic. Next, he examines the three critiques that currently challenge this classic Darwinian edifice: that selection operates on multiple levels, from the gene to the group; that evolution proceeds by a variety of mechanisms, not just natural selection; and that causes operating at broader scales, including catastrophes, have figured prominently in the course of evolution. Then, in a stunning tour de force that will likely stimulate discussion and debate for decades, Gould proposes his own system for integrating these classical commitments and contemporary critiques into a new structure of evolutionary thought. In 2001 the Library of Congress named Stephen Jay Gould one of America's eighty-three Living Legends-people who embody the "quintessentially American ideal of individual creativity, conviction, dedication, and exuberance." Each of these qualities finds full expression in this peerless work, the likes of which the scientific world has not seen-and may not see again-for well over a century.
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Access limited to authorized users.
System Details Note
Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
Digital File Characteristics
text file PDF
Source of Description
Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 01. Dez 2022)
In
Harvard University Press eBook Package Backlist 2000-2013
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Frontmatter
Contents
Expanded Contents
Chapter 1: Defining and Revising the Structure of Evolutionary Theory
Part I: The History of Darwinian Logic and Debate
Chapter 2: The Essence of Darwinism and the Basis of Modern Orthodoxy: An Exegesis of the Origin of Species
Chapter 3: Seeds of Hierarchy
Chapter 4: Internalism and Laws of Form: Pre-Darwinian Alternatives to Functionalism
Chapter 5: The Fruitful Facets of Galton's Polyhedron: Channels and Saltations in Post-Darwinian Formalism
Chapter 6: Pattern and Progress on the Geological Stage
Chapter 7: The Modern Synthesis as a Limited Consensus
Part II: Towards a Revised and Expanded Evolutionary Theory
Chapter 8: Species as Individuals in the Hierarchical Theory of Selection
Chapter 9: Punctuated Equilibrium and the Validation of Macroevolutionary Theory
Chapter 10: The Integration of Constraint and Adaptation (Structure and Function) in Ontogeny and Phylogeny: Historical Constraints and the Evolution of Development
Chapter 11: The Integration of Constraint and Adaptation (Structure and Function) in Ontogeny and Phylogeny: Structural Constraints, Spandrels, and the Centrality of Exaptation in Macroevolution
Chapter 12: Tiers of Time and Trials of Extrapolationism, With an Epilog on the Interaction of General Theory and Contingent History
Bibliography
Illustration Credits
Index

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