The natural world is infinitely complex and hierarchically structured, with smaller units forming the components of progressively larger systems: molecules make up cells, cells comprise tissues and organs that are, in turn, parts of individual organisms, which are united into populations and integrated into yet more encompassing ecosystems. In the face of such awe-inspiring complexity, there is a need for a comprehensive, non-reductionist evolutionary theory. Having emerged at the crossroads of paleobiology, genetics, and developmental biology, the hierarchical approach to evolution provides a unifying perspective on the natural world and offers an operational framework for scientists seeking to understand the way complex biological systems work and evolve. Coedited by one of the founders of hierarchy theory and featuring a diverse and renowned group of contributors, this volume provides an integrated, comprehensive, cutting-edge introduction to the hierarchy theory of evolution. From sweeping historical reviews to philosophical pieces, theoretical essays, and strictly empirical chapters, it reveals hierarchy theory as a vibrant field of scientific enterprise that holds promise for unification across the life sciences and offers new venues of empirical and theoretical research. Stretching from molecules to the biosphere, hierarchy theory aims to provide an all-encompassing understanding of evolution and – with this first collection devoted entirely to the concept – will help make transparent the fundamental patterns that propel living systems.
About the Author
Niles Eldredge is an emeritus curator in the Division of Paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History and one of the founders of the hierarchy theory of evolution. He is the author, most recently, of "Eternal Ephemera: Adaptation and the Origin of Species from the Nineteenth Century through Punctuated Equilibria and Beyond".
Telmo Pievani is professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Padua, where he holds the first Italian chair of the philosophy of biological science.
Emanuele Serrelli is a fellow at the University of Milano-Bicocca and a researcher in the philosophy of science who collaborates with several universities around the world.
Ilya Temkin is associate professor of biology at Northern Virginia Community College and a research associate at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution.
All four are members of the Hierarchy Group.
Reviews
"'Evolutionary Theory' provides a contemporary selection of historical, conceptual, and empirical essays on the hierarchy theory of evolution that Eldredge and his collaborators hope will bring about renewed enthusiasm for the theory in evolutionary biology circles... Both the range of topics covered in this volume and the diversity of contributors are impressive. As such, it serves an important need at a time when highly specialized journals rarely provide the opportunity for biologists and philosophers to jointly engage with conceptual issues in biology" – Bengt Autzen, University of Bristol, Science
"All of the topics examined here ultimately emanate from the longstanding desire of distinguished evolutionary theoretician Eldredge to integrate what he sees as two independent hierarchies that impinge on evolution process: the genealogical hierarchy of genes, demes, species, and higher taxa, and the ecological hierarchy of individuals, populations, and communities. It is this integrative focus, viewed from a variety of perspectives, that gives the book its distinctive form. Diverse as the chapters are, linking commentaries help to make this perhaps the best-integrated edited volume I have seen. It is a conceptually homogeneous, truly unusual work that represents the state of the art in the realm of hierarchy-driven evolutionary theory and will move this field ahead in a significant way" – Ian Tattersall, American Museum of Natural History, author of "The Strange Case of the Rickety Cossack and Other Cautionary Tales from Human Evolution"
"The editors of 'Evolutionary Theory' are all respected scholars with important track records as advocates of an understanding of evolution that does not conform to the standard, received version – the so-called Evolutionary or Modern Synthesis. The central point of disagreement between the two camps turns on the role of natural selection: while neither denies its role, the editors of and contributors to this volume consider that it is not the only factor that plays a role in speciation – especially the origin of species. Clear and readable, chapters explore themes of information, integration, organization, mereology, context, time – and the constraints responsible for bringing hierarchies into being and keeping them in existence while allowing them to change. The crucial significance of these conceptual issues, and how they are made manifest in biology, development, and evolution, can no longer be ignored" – Alicia Juarrero, Prince George's Community College, emerita, author of "Dynamics in Action: Intentional Behavior as a Complex System"
