Article ID: CBB001230066

Gemmules and Elements: On Darwin's and Mendel's Concepts and Methods in Heredity (2010)

unapi

Deichmann, Ute (Author)


Journal for General Philosophy of Science
Volume: 41
Pages: 85--112


Publication Date: 2010
Edition Details: Part of a special issue: “Darwinism, Philosophy, and Experimental Biology”
Language: English

Inheritance and variation were a major focus of Charles Darwin's studies. Small inherited variations were at the core of his theory of organic evolution by means of natural selection. He put forward a developmental theory of heredity (pangenesis) based on the assumption of the existence of material hereditary particles. However, unlike his proposition of natural selection as a new mechanism for evolutionary change, Darwin's highly speculative and contradictory hypotheses on heredity were unfruitful for further research. They attempted to explain many complex biological phenomena at the same time, disregarded the then modern developments in cell theory, and were, moreover, faithful to the widespread conceptions of blending and so-called Lamarckian inheritance. In contrast, Mendel's approaches, despite the fact that features of his ideas were later not found to be tenable, proved successful as the basis for the development of modern genetics. Mendel took the study of the transmission of traits and its causes (genetics) out of natural history; by reducing complexity to simple particulate models, he transformed it into a scientific field of research. His scientific approach and concept of discrete elements (which later gave rise to the notion of discrete genes) also contributed crucially to the explanation of the existence of stable variations as the basis for natural selection.

...More
Included in

Article Bächtold, Manuel (2010) Saving Mach's View on Atoms. Journal for General Philosophy of Science (p. 1). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001230066/

Similar Citations

Chapter Engels, Eve-Marie; (2009)
Charles Darwins geheimnisvolle Revolution (/isis/citation/CBB001023713/)

Article Bowler, Peter J.; (2009)
Do We Need a Non-Darwinian Industry? (/isis/citation/CBB001022696/)

Book Brzezinski Prestes, Maria Elice; Martins, Lilian Al-Chueyr Pereira; Stefano, Waldir; (2006)
Filosofia e História da Biologia 1 (/isis/citation/CBB000820181/)

Article Bowler, Peter J.; (2014)
Francis Galton's Saltationism and the Ambiguities of Selection (/isis/citation/CBB001421642/)

Book Ruse, Michael; Travis, Joseph; (2009)
Evolution: The First Four Billion Years (/isis/citation/CBB001232307/)

Article Lorenzano, Pablo; (2011)
What Would Have Happened If Darwin Had Known Mendel (or Mendel's Work)? (/isis/citation/CBB001034540/)

Article Richards, Robert J.; (2012)
Darwin's Principles of Divergence and Natural Selection: Why Fodor Was Almost Right (/isis/citation/CBB001221609/)

Article Travis, Anthony S.; (2010)
Raphael Meldola and the Nineteenth-Century Neo-Darwinians (/isis/citation/CBB001230067/)

Book Gardiner, Brian; Milner, Richard; Morris, Mary; (2008)
Survival of the Fittest: A Special Issue of the Linnean Celebrating the 150th Anniversary of the Darwin-Wallace Theory of Evolution (/isis/citation/CBB001035140/)

Article Haufe, Chris; (2012)
Darwin's Laws (/isis/citation/CBB001221610/)

Book Brown, William; Fabian, Andrew C.; (2010)
Darwin (/isis/citation/CBB001023129/)

Article Kampourakis, Kostas; (2013)
Mendel and the Path to Genetics: Portraying Science as a Social Process (/isis/citation/CBB001252323/)

Book Tudge, Colin; (2001)
Impact of the Gene: From Mendel's Peas to Designer Babies (/isis/citation/CBB000102136/)

Thesis Pearce, Trevor Richard; (2010)
“A Perfect Chaos”: Organism-Environment Interaction and the Causal Factors of Evolution (/isis/citation/CBB001562740/)

Article Bowler, Peter J.; (2008)
What Darwin Disturbed: The Biology That Might Have Been (/isis/citation/CBB000850417/)

Authors & Contributors
Bowler, Peter J.
Hall, Brian K.
Varno, Theodore James
Wynn, James
Tudge, Colin
Travis, Joseph
Concepts
Evolution
Natural selection
Darwinism
Genetics
Heredity
Biology
Time Periods
19th century
20th century
20th century, early
21st century
18th century
Places
Great Britain
United States
Europe
Institutions
United States. Dept. of Agriculture
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment