DARWIN'S Origin as a modern theory

Reif W-E

摘要

The structure of the modern theory of evolution is controversial in biology and in thephilosophy of science. Classical texts often carry common-sensical characteristics, but these arerarely analyzed. Here, I give a full interpretation of the first edition of CHARLES DARWIN'S "On theOrigin of Species" (1859). I propose that today, the term "evolution" is used with three differentmeanings which are not clearly separated in the technical literature and in text-books: Evolution Iis the irreversible process of the historical change of the biosphere from the first bacteria to thepresent (= phylogeny). It is a simple truth that this process takes place. However, details of the process(velocity, gradualness) have been controversial up to the present day. Evolution II encompasses thecausal factors that control evolution (mutation, recombination, natural selection etc.). Evolution III isthe historical narrative of the history of the biosphere. All processes in Evolution III are explained byprevious events, contingencies, etc. DARWIN'S goal was to demonstrate the truth of evolution I and itsspecial features and to find factors (evolution II) that control this process (mainly: natural selection.) DARWIN regarded the theory of descent and the theory of natural selection as a single theory.History has shown that these are two different theories. He worked with different methodologies,mainly analogy and hermeneutics. (1) Analogy is used in two different important contexts: (a)variability and all different phenomena of inheritance in domestic breeding are seen as analogiesof variability and inheritance in the wild, (b) natural selection in domestication is seen analogyto natural selection. DARWIN gives no justification for these analogies. They are simply a-priories.(2) Hermeneutic circles (reciprocal illumination) are common in the book such as: (a) I learn fromgeological theories of the fossil record for the understanding of the distribution of fossils and viceversa, (b) I learn for theories of descent and natural selection from the small scale distribution ofspecies and ecology and vice versa, and (c) I learn for biogeography from physical mechanisms ofdispersal and vice versa. DARWIN worked for twenty years to develop his theory. It is hence notsurprising that he omitted aspects of which he was only unconsciously aware or which were self-evident for him. I try to clarify the contexts where DARWIN made indications between the lines.For instance, he had a highly complex organism-concept, which characterised the organism in theecological game from conception to death and acquiring new heritable variability. The title of thebook "On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favoured Racesin the Struggle for Life" is DARWIN'S research programme, namely the behaviour of species andpopulations in the ecological game; the origin of new species from older ones by splitting and trans-formation; the acquisition of new characters in species populations etc. Struggle for existence andnatural selection are ecological processes of high importance. Nevertheless it is hardly stated in theliterature that DARWIN regarded evolution from the point of view of an ecologist. It is commonlystated that he had neither an understanding of genetics, nor of the process of speciation. I show thatboth criticisms are wrong, and that Darwin could hardly have solved his task if he had not collectedall possible data from breeders and if he had not developed a very complex model of speciation fromhis non-arbitrary, non-pragmatic species concept.

机译：现代进化论的结构在生物学和科学哲学上都有争议。古典文本通常具有常识性特征，但是很少对它们进行分析。在这里，我对CHARLES DARWIN的“物种起源”（1859年）的第一版进行完整的解释。我建议今天，“进化”一词具有三种不同的含义，在技术文献和教科书中并未明确分开：进化是生物圈从最初细菌到现在的历史变化的不可逆过程（=系统发育）。这是一个简单的事实。然而，直到今天，该过程的细节（速度，渐进性）仍存在争议。进化II包含了控制进化的因果因素（突变，重组，自然选择等）。进化三是生物圈历史的历史叙述。 Evolution III中的所有过程都由先前的事件，突发事件等进行了解释。DARWIN的目标是证明Evolution I的真相及其特殊特征，并找到控制该过程的因素（Evolution II）（主要是自然选择）。DARWIN认为该理论是正确的。历史证明，这是两种不同的理论。他使用不同的方法，主要是类比法和解释学。（1）在两个不同的重要背景下使用类比：（a）变异和家养育种中所有不同的遗传现象都被视为野生环境中变异和遗传的类比;（b）驯化中的自然选择被视为类似于自然选择。 DARWIN没有给出这些类推的理由。它们只是一个先例。（2）书中的解释圈（相互照明）很常见，例如：（a）我从化石记录的地质理论中学到了对化石分布的理解，反之亦然，（b）我从物种和生态的小规模分布中学习后裔和自然选择的理论，反之亦然;（c）从分散的物理机制中学习生物地理学，反之亦然。 DARWIN工作了二十年以发展他的理论。因此，毫不奇怪的是，他忽略了那些他只是不自觉地意识到或对于他而言不言而喻的方面。我试图弄清DARWIN在线条之间进行指示的环境，例如，他有一个非常复杂的生物概念，该生物在生态游戏中从受孕到死亡都有新的特征，并获得了新的遗传变异性。达尔文研究计划的标题是“通过自然选择或保护生命中的有利种族保护物种的起源”，这是达尔文的研究计划，即生态游戏中物种和种群的行为;通过分裂和转化从较旧物种起源的新物种;生存和自然选择的斗争是非常重要的生态过程。然而，在文学中几乎没有说过达尔文从生态学家的角度看待进化。通常说他既不了解遗传学，也不了解物种形成过程。我表明这两种批评都是错误的，如果达尔文没有从育种者那里收集所有可能的数据，并且他没有从他的非任意，非务实的物种概念发展出非常复杂的物种形成模型，那达尔文几乎不可能解决他的任务。

DARWIN'S Origin as a modern theory

摘要

著录项

相似文献

相关主题

期刊订阅