Mutation and evolution

Tag: language

  • The shift to mutationism is documented in our language

    Last year Sahotra Sarkar published a paper that got me thinking.  His piece entitled “The Genomic Challenge to Adaptationism” focused on the writings of Lynch & Koonin, arguing that molecular studies continue to present a major challenge to the received view of evolution, by suggesting that “non-adaptive processes dominate genome architecture evolution”. The idea that molecular…

  • Theory vs. Theory

    What does it mean to invoke “evolutionary theory”? Is “neo-Darwinism” (or “Darwinism”) a theory, a school of thought, or something else? What gives a theory structure and meaning?  Can a theory change and, if so, how much?  What is the relationship between mathematical formalisms and other statements of “theory”? Who…