History and Philosophy of the Relations between Evolutionary and Developmental Biology

项目摘要SES提案0135451进化和发育生物学之间关系的历史和哲学Ronald Amundson，夏威夷大学进化发育生物学是一个快速发展的新领域，受到20世纪90年代分子发育遗传学快速发展的刺激。 专业的兴奋是显而易见的，在出现新的专业组织，期刊，教科书，授予计划，甚至一个新的绰号，埃沃德沃。但是进化生物学和发育生物学之间的关系并不新鲜。他们开始于19世纪60年代，达尔文最早的进化形态学追随者。 他们的科学计划遇到了困难，并在19世纪90年代被放弃。进化生物学本身处于一个不断变化和争议的时期，直到20世纪30年代和40年代的进化综合。进化综合统一了生物学的许多领域，但没有将发育作为进化理解的相关因素。1980年左右，关于发展重要性的激烈辩论再次出现，综合论的捍卫者和发展的圣像主义倡导者都提出了同样激烈的论点。目前对Evo Devo的科学兴奋不是来自方法问题的解决，而是来自发育遗传学日益丰富的进展。 在这个项目中，阿蒙森博士研究了关于发育与进化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式。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世纪中期的辩论相似？ 这些争论在多大程度上依赖于经验发现，又在多大程度上依赖于科学方法的差异？进化论与主流进化论之间仍然存在的方法论差异会成为整合进化论的障碍吗？ 该项目表明了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.