Before Hierarchy: The Rise and Fall of Stephen Jay Gould’s First Macroevolutionary Synthesis (2017)
Few of Stephen Jay Gould’s accomplishments in evolutionary biology have received more attention than his hierarchical theory of evolution, which postulates a causal discontinuity between micro- and macroevolutionary events. But Gould’s hierarchical theory was his second attempt to supply a theoretical framework for macroevolutionary studies—and one he did not inaugurate until the mid-1970s. In this paper, I examine Gould’s first attempt: a proposed fusion of theoretical morphology, multivariate biometry and the experimental study of adaptation in fossils. This early “macroevolutionary synthesis” was predicated on the notion that parallelism and convergence dominate the history of higher taxa, and moreover, that they can be explained in terms of adaptation leading to mechanical improvement. In this paper, I explore the origins and contents of Gould’s first macroevolutionary synthesis, as well as the reasons for its downfall. In addition, I consider how various developments during the mid-1970s led Gould to identify hierarchy and constraint as the leading themes of macroevolutionary studies—and adaptation as a macroevolutionary red herring.
...MoreSimilar Citations
Article
Sepkoski, David;
(2014)
Paleontology at the “High Table”? Popularization and Disciplinary Status in Recent Paleontology
(/isis/citation/CBB001420096/)
Chapter
Stenmark, Mikael;
(2004)
Contemporary Darwinism and Religion
(/isis/citation/CBB000500635/)
Article
Sandy C. Boucher;
(2017)
Gould on species, metaphysics and macroevolution: A critical appraisal
(/isis/citation/CBB083237950/)
Article
Brysse, Keynyn;
(2008)
From Weird Wonders to Stem Lineages: The Second Reclassification of theBurgess Shale Fauna
(/isis/citation/CBB000831712/)
Article
Donald Prothero;
(2009)
Stephen Jay Gould: Did He Bring Paleontology to the “High Table”?
(/isis/citation/CBB823532878/)
Article
Martin, J.S. Rudwick;
(2018)
The Fate of the Method of ‘Paradigms’ in Paleobiology
(/isis/citation/CBB962592333/)
Article
Anderson, Gemma;
(2014)
Endangered: A Study of Morphological Drawing in Zoological Taxonomy
(/isis/citation/CBB001201296/)
Book
Gould, Stephen Jay;
(2002)
The Structure of Evolutionary Theory
(/isis/citation/CBB000201387/)
Book
Appleman, Philip;
(2001)
Darwin: Texts Commentary
(/isis/citation/CBB000101919/)
Article
Goodenough, Ursula;
(2001)
Genomes, Gould, and Emergence
(/isis/citation/CBB000102264/)
Article
Cachón, Vladimir;
Barahona, Ana;
Ayala, Francisco J.;
(2008)
The Rhetorical Construction of Eldredge and Gould's Article on the Theory of Punctuated Equilibria in 1972
(/isis/citation/CBB000931572/)
Article
Grimoult, Cédric;
(2009)
Le débat sur le ponctualisme en France: Le colloque international de Dijon en 1982
(/isis/citation/CBB000954548/)
Book
Prindle, David F.;
(2009)
Stephen Jay Gould and the Politics of Evolution
(/isis/citation/CBB000954503/)
Article
Sepkoski, David;
(2005)
Stephen Jay Gould, Jack Sepkoski, and the “Quantitative Revolution” in American Paleobiology
(/isis/citation/CBB000550952/)
Article
Perez, Myrna;
(2013)
Evolutionary Activism: Stephen Jay Gould, the New Left and Sociobiology
(/isis/citation/CBB001211787/)
Article
Sheldon, Myrna Perez;
(2014)
Claiming Darwin: Stephen Jay Gould in Contests over Evolutionary Orthodoxy and Public Perception, 1977--2002
(/isis/citation/CBB001420097/)
Thesis
Brysse, Keynyn Alexandra Ripley;
(2008)
The Burgess Shale: A Cambrian Mirror for Modern Evolutionary Biology
(/isis/citation/CBB001561132/)
Chapter
Sepkoski, David;
(2008)
Stephen Jay Gould, Darwinian Iconoclast?
(/isis/citation/CBB000960105/)
Article
Weishampel, David B.;
Reif, Wolf-Ernst;
(2013)
An Untimely Nexus of German Biomechanics, Evolution and Ornithology: Dominik von Kripp and Evolutionary Functional Morphology
(/isis/citation/CBB001211909/)
Chapter
Gliboff, Sander;
(2012)
Monism and Morphology at the Turn of the Twentieth Century
(/isis/citation/CBB001201838/)
Be the first to comment!