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Natural Selection And Self-Organization: Dynamical Models As Clues To A New Evolutionary Synthesis, Bruce Weber, David Depew

David J Depew

The Darwinian concept of natural selection was conceived within a set of Newtonianbackground assumptions about systems dynamics. Mendelian genetics at first did not sit well with the gradualist assumptions of the Darwinian theory. Eventually, however. Mendelism and Darwinism were fused by reformulating natural selection in statistical terms. This reflected a shift to a more probabilistic set of background assumptions based upon Boltzmannian systems dynamics. Recent developments in molecular genetics and paleontology have put pressure on Darwinism once again. Current work on self-organizing systems may provide a stimulus not only for increased problem solving within the Darwinian tradition, especially with respect …