Article ID: CBB000550932

The Darwinian Revolution as Viewed by a Philosophical Biologist (2005)

unapi

Ghiselin, Michael T. (Author)


Journal of the History of Biology
Volume: 38
Pages: 123--136


Publication Date: 2005
Edition Details: Part of a special issue: The “Darwinian Revolution”: Whether, What and Whose?
Language: English

Darwin proclaimed his own work revolutionary. His revolution, however, is still in progress, and the changes that are going on are reflected in the contemporary historical and philosophical literature, including that written by scientists. The changes have taken place at different levels, and have tended to occur at the more superficial ones. The new ontology that arose as a consequence of the realization that species are individuals at once provides an analytical tool for explaining what has been happening and an example of the kind of changes that seem in order. It provides a clear distinction between the roles of history and of laws of nature. Pre-Darwinian ldquoevolutionrdquo was superficial in the sense that it treated change as either as something pre-ordained or else due to timeless laws of nature, rather than historical contingency. Darwinism puts the ontological emphasis upon concrete, particular things (individuals) and therefore delegitimizes both essentialistic and teleological ways of thinking. However, traditional ways of thinking have persisted, if not explicitly, then often as assumptions and procedures that are merely implicit or even unconscious. As a result, anti-evolutionary attitudes continue to influence the practice of evolutionary biology as well as the study of its history and philosophy.

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Article Ruse, Michael (2005) The Darwinian Revolution, as Seen in 1979 and as Seen Twenty-Five Years Later in 2004. Journal of the History of Biology (p. 3). unapi

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https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB000550932/

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Authors & Contributors
Weinert, Friedel
Ruse, Michael
Delisle, Richard G.
Mazzeo, Marco
Parsons, Keith M.
Wilner, Eduardo
Concepts
Darwinism
Evolution
Philosophy of science
Revolutions in science
Historiography
Science and society
Time Periods
20th century
19th century
21st century
20th century, late
Early modern
Modern
Places
Brazil
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