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Article ID: CBB982680006

Animal Behavior, Population Biology and the Modern Synthesis (1955–1985) (2019)

Grodwohl, Jean-Baptiste (Author)

Journal of the History of Biology
Volume: 52
Issue: 4
Pages: 597-633

URI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10739-018-9553-8

DOI: 10.1007/s10739-018-9553-8

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Modern Synthesis (biology) Discipline formation Methodology of science; scientific method Population genetics Population ecology Animal behavior Applied mathematics Natural selection 20th century, late

This paper examines the history of animal behavior studies after the synthesis period. Three episodes are considered: the adoption of the theory of natural selection, the mathematization of ideas, and the spread of molecular methods in behavior studies. In these three episodes, students of behavior adopted practices and standards developed in population ecology and population genetics. While they borrowed tools and methods from these fields, they made distinct uses (inclusive fitness method, evolutionary theory of games, emphasis on individual selection) that set them relatively apart and led them to contribute, in their own way, to evolutionary theory. These episodes also highlight some limitations of “conjunction narratives” centered on the relation between a discipline and the modern synthesis. A trend in conjunction narratives is to interpret any development related to evolution in a discipline as an “extension,” an “integration,” or as a “delayed” synthesis. I here suggest that this can lead to underestimate discontinuities in the history of evolutionary biology.

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Article Philippe Huneman (2019) Special Issue Editor’s Introduction: “Revisiting the Modern Synthesis”. Journal of the History of Biology (pp. 509-518). unapi

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