Unfinished Synthesis: Biological Hierarchies and Modern Evolutionary Thought

by Niles Eldredge

Overview

This study provides a stimulating critique of contemporary evolutionary thought, analyzing the Modern Synthesis first developed by Theodosius Dobzhansky, Ernst Mayr, and George Gaylord Simpson. The author argues that although only genes and organisms are taken as historic "individuals" in conventional theory, species, higher taxa, and ecological entities such as populations and communities should also be construed as individuals—an approach that yields the ecological and genealogical hierarchies that interact to produce evolution. This clearly stated, controversial work will provoke much debate among evolutionary biologists, systematists, paleontologists, and ecologists, as well as a wide range of educated lay readers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195036336
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	11/21/1985
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.31(w) x 9.50(h) x 0.94(d)

About the Author

American Museum of Natural History, New York

Table of Contents

1. Approaching Complexity: Thinking About Evolution2. Genes and the Evolutionary Synthesis3. Systematics, Paleontology, and the Modern Synthesis4. The Structure and Content of the Modern Synthesis5. Toward Hierarchy: Trends and Tensions in Evolutionary Theory6. The Evolutionary Hierarchies7. Hierarchic Interactions: The Evolutionary ProcessReferencesIndex

Editorial Reviews

"Interesting and provocative....A must for those with a genuine interest in the processes of evolution."—Choice

"Eldredge—the invertebrate paleontologist renowned for his role in developing the theory of punctuated equilibria and the epistemological approach to phylogenetic pattern recognition known as cladistics—now gives us...one of the more important challenges to the neo-Darwinian evolutionary synthesis....This is a must for anyone, of any persuasion, interested in evolutionary theory." —Science Books & Films

"An authoritative, well-researched, lively account of evolutionary theory and evidence for student and layman alike." —Book Trends Monthly

From the Publisher