History and Philosophy of the Relations between Evolutionary and Developmental Biology

罗纳德·阿蒙森（ronald Amundson），夏威夷大学（University of hawaii）受20世纪90年代分子发育遗传学快速发展的影响，进化发育生物学是一个快速发展的新领域。在新的专业组织、期刊、教科书、授权项目，甚至一个新的昵称——Evo Devo——的出现中，职业兴奋是显而易见的。但是进化生物学和发育生物学之间的关系并不新鲜。它们始于19世纪60年代达尔文在进化形态学上最早的追随者。他们的科学计划遇到了困难，在19世纪90年代被放弃了。在20世纪30年代和40年代的进化综合之前，进化生物学本身一直处于变化和争议的时期。进化综合理论统一了生物学的许多领域，但没有把发展作为进化理解的一个相关因素。1980年前后，一场关于发展重要性的激烈辩论再次出现，在综合理论的捍卫者和打破传统的发展倡导者之间，争论同样激烈。目前科学界对Evo Devo的兴奋不是来自方法论问题的解决，而是来自发育遗传学日益丰富进展的承诺。在这个项目中，阿蒙森博士考察了关于发展与进化的相关性的争论的历史。他比较了争论点和解决科学争议的方法。其中的关键问题是：今天关于生物学发展的问题在哪些方面与19世纪或20世纪中期的争论相似？争论在多大程度上依赖于经验发现，在多大程度上依赖于科学方法的差异？在Evo Devo和主流进化论之间仍然存在的方法论差异会成为一个完整的进化论的障碍吗？该项目表明哲学和方法论在科学辩论中的重要性，以及历史在理解当代科学中的重要性。

Project AbstractSES Proposal 0135451History and Philosophy of the Relations between Evolutionary andDevelopmental BiologyRonald Amundson, University of HawaiiEvolutionary developmental biology is a fast growing new field, stimulated by the rapid advances in molecular developmental genetics during the 1990s. Professional excitement is evident in the appearance of new professional organizations, journals, textbooks, granting programs, and even a new nickname, Evo Devo. But the relations between evolutionary and developmental biology are anything but new. They began in the 1860s with Darwin's earliest followers in evolutionary morphology. Their scientific program ran into difficulties, and was abandoned during the 1890s. Evolutionary biology itself was in a period of flux and controversy until the Evolutionary Synthesis of the 1930s and 1940s. The Evolutionary Synthesis unified many areas of biology, but did not include development as a relevant factor for evolutionary understanding. A lively debate about the importance of development arose again around 1980 with equally fierce arguments from both defenders of the Synthesis and iconoclastic advocates of development. The current scientific excitement about Evo Devo comes not from the resolution of the methodological issues but from the promise of increasingly rich progress in developmental genetics. In this project, Dr. Amundson examines the history of the debates about the relevance of development to evolution. He compares points of contention and the ways in which scientific disputes are settled. Among the key questions are these: In what ways are today's issues about development in biology similar to those of past debates in the 19th or mid-20th centuries? To what extent do the debates depend on empirical discoveries, and to what extent on differences in scientific method? Will the methodological differences that still persist between Evo Devo and the mainstream evolutionary theory be a barrier to an integrated theory of evolution? The project suggests the importance of philosophy and methodology in scientific debate and the significance of history in understanding contemporary science.