Beyond Lamarckism

Auteur

Laurent Loison is a CNRS researcher in history and philosophy of biology (Paris, France). A major part of his work focuses on the history of the various forms of Lamarckism in biology over the past two centuries.

Texte du rabat

Beyond Lamarckism, Plasticity in Darwinian Evolution shows that the evolutionary impact of plasticity was in fact debated long before the emergence of the current debate on the limits of the Modern Synthesis.

Résumé
Beyond Lamarckism, Plasticity in Darwinian Evolution shows that the evolutionary impact of plasticity was in fact debated long before the emergence of the current debate on the limits of the Modern Synthesis.

Contenu

Introduction.

Part I. The rise of organic selection: thinking plasticity ecologically

1. Framing the issue from the viewpoint of natural selection. The confusing birth of organic selection in the pre-Mendelian era.

2. The eclipse of organic selection. The case-study of French-speaking post-Lamarckian biology.

3. The experimental turn, from plastic change to speciation.

Conclusion of Part I

Part II. Waddington and Schmalhausen: thinking plasticity developmentally

Introduction of Part II

4. 'Autonomization', 'canalization' and 'genetic assimilation'. Towards a developmental perspective on the relationship between adaptability and adaptation.

5. A problematic issue: the creativity of the developmental process.

6. An overlooked revolution? Creativity in the evolutionary building of a new reaction norm.

Conclusion of Part II

Part III. (dis?)Integration into the Modern Synthesis: thinking plasticiy genetically

Introduction of Part III

7. The Baldwin effect: de-ecologizing organic selection.

8. Re-working Waddingtonian concepts within quantitative genetics.

9. The complex fate of Waddingtonian concepts in the subsequent history of the Modern Synthesis.

Conclusion of Part III

General Conclusion.