C.H. Waddington’s Differences with the Creators of the Modern Evolutionary Synthesis: A Tale of Two Genes (2017)
Bard, Jonathan B. L. (Author)
History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences
Volume: 39
Issue: 3
Pages: 18
In 2011, Peterson suggested that the main reason why C.H. Waddington was essentially ignored by the framers of the modern evolutionary synthesis in the 1950s was because they were Cartesian reductionists and mathematical population geneticists while he was a Whiteheadian organicist and experimental geneticist who worked with Drosophila. This paper suggests a further reason that can only be seen now. The former defined genes and their alleles by their selectable phenotypes, essentially the Mendelian view, while Waddington defined a gene through its functional role as determined by genetic analysis, a view that foresaw the modern view that a gene is a DNA sequence with some function. The former were interested in selection, while Waddington focused on variation. The differences between the two views of a gene are briefly considered in the context of systems biology.
...MoreArticle Erik L. Peterson (2017) ‘So Far Like the Present Period’: A Reply to ‘C.H. Waddington’s Differences with the Creators of the Modern Evolutionary Synthesis: A Tale of Two Genes’. History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences (p. 19).
Similar Citations
Article
Erik L. Peterson;
(2017)
‘So Far Like the Present Period’: A Reply to ‘C.H. Waddington’s Differences with the Creators of the Modern Evolutionary Synthesis: A Tale of Two Genes’
Article
Laurent Loison;
(2022)
The environment: An ambiguous concept in Waddington's biology
Chapter
Gissis, Snait B.;
Jablonka, Eva;
(2011)
The Exclusion of Soft (“Lamarckian”) Inheritance from the Modern Synthesis
Thesis
Green, Lisa Anne;
(2012)
Science for Survival: The Modern Synthesis of Evolution and the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study
Article
Wilkins, Adam S.;
(2008)
Waddington's Unfinished Critique of Neo-Darwinian Genetics: Then and Now
Article
Alexis De Tiège;
Yves Van de Peer;
Johan Braeckman;
Koen B. Tanghe;
(2017)
The Sociobiology of Genes: The Gene’s Eye View as a Unifying Behavioural-Ecological Framework for Biological Evolution
Article
Alan Grafen;
(2019)
Should we ask for more than consistency of Darwinism with Mendelism?
Chapter
Wilkins, Adam;
(2011)
Why Did the Modern Synthesis Give Short Shrift to “Soft Inheritance”?
Book
Philippe Huneman;
Denis M. Walsh;
(2017)
Challenging the Modern Synthesis: Adaptation, Development, and Inheritance
Article
John Beatty;
(2019)
The Creativity of Natural Selection? Part II: The Synthesis and Since
Article
Alison Bashford;
(2025)
The New Modern Synthesis: E. O. Wilson and Julian Huxley
Article
María Alejandra Petino Zappala;
(2024)
A framework for the integration of development and evolution: The forgotten legacy of James Meadows Rendel
Book
Alban Frei;
(2018)
Sichtbare Netzwerke: Forschungspolitik und Life-Sciences zwischen 1990 und 2016 in der Schweiz. Eine Fallstudie zu SystemsX.ch
Article
Michel Veuille;
(2019)
Chance, Variation and Shared Ancestry: Population Genetics After the Synthesis
Article
Jean Gayon;
Philippe Huneman;
(2019)
The Modern Synthesis: Theoretical or Institutional Event?
Article
Anya Plutynski;
(2019)
Speciation Post Synthesis: 1960–2000
Article
Isabel Gabel;
(2018)
From Evolutionary Theory to Philosophy of History: Raymond Aron and the Crisis of French Neo-Transformism
Article
Mallet, James;
(2010)
Why Was Darwin's View of Species Rejected by Twentieth Century Biologists?
Article
Bowler, Peter J.;
(2014)
Francis Galton's Saltationism and the Ambiguities of Selection
Article
Tabery, James;
(2008)
R. A. Fisher, Lancelot Hogben, and the Origin(s) of Genotype--Environment Interaction
Be the first to comment!