Article ID: CBB000933662

Was There a Darwinian Revolution? (2005)

unapi

Some twenty five years ago I published a book called The Darwinian Revolution: Science Red in Tooth and Claw. No one then doubted that I was talking about a real subject, namely the Darwinian Revolution? Since then, that happy assumption has come under attack and in this paper I examine the question about the Darwinian Revolution. First, is it proper to talk at all about scientific revolutions? I argue that it is, so long as one does not assume that all such revolutions are the same. I also argue that the Darwinian Revolution is a paradigm of such revolutions. Second, even if there is a revolution, is it properly Darwin's? I agree that if you restrict the question narrowly and refuse to look at later developments, then Darwin becomes somewhat less important. But I argue also that such restrictions are unfair and if we look at the full scope of the issue, Charles Darwin is very significant and deserves the name of the revolution. Finally, what kind of revolution was the Darwinian Revolution? I argue that it is only in a limited sense like that discussed by Thomas Kuhn, but that the form-function dichotomy that runs through the Darwinian Revolution does have non-rational elements as well as empirical backing.

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Authors & Contributors
Ruse, Michael
Glick, Thomas F.
Engels, Eve-Marie
Bowler, Peter J.
Zampieri, Fabio
Travis, Joseph
Concepts
Evolution
Darwinism
Genetics
Biology
Natural selection
Speciation
Time Periods
19th century
20th century
21st century
18th century
20th century, early
Places
Great Britain
Spain
Germany
United Kingdom
Ukraine
South America
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