|
Nothing in Evolution Makes Sense Except in the Light of Biology| old_uid | 13053 |
|---|
| title | Nothing in Evolution Makes Sense Except in the Light of Biology |
|---|
| start_date | 2017/02/27 |
|---|
| schedule | 16h-18h |
|---|
| online | no |
|---|
| summary | Dobzhansky’s dictum—‘Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution”— holds a particular significance for evolutionary biologists and philosophers of biology. It points to a fundamental distinction between two kinds of phenomena, biological phenomena (those manifest in an organism’s way of life) and evolutionary phenomena. It further suggests an asymmetry; evolutionary phenomena explain biological phenomena, but not the other way around. There are two kinds of challenges to the presumptive primacy of evolution over biology. The first comes from those who advocate an extension of the Modern Synthesis to include features of organismal way of life. The second comes from the recent realisation that genome structure and function are mediated by a cell’s or an organism's biological responses to its conditions of existence. Consequently, we cannot understand evolution unless we conceive of it as the consequence of organisms’ pursuit of their way of life. I argue, instead, for the primacy of biology over evolution. |
|---|
| responsibles | Bognon-Küss |
|---|
| |
|