Evolutionary biology: Contemporary and historical reflections upon core theory

The Modern Synthesis (MS) in evolutionary biology has been well documented and discussed. Critical scrutiny over the last 15 years has led researchers from diverse disciplinary backgrounds to claim that there is a need for an extension to that theory, and they have called for an Extended Evolutionary Synthesis (EES). The majority of chapters in this book address various aspects of the EES position, and reflect upon the MS. Some of the chapters take historical perspectives, analyzing various details of the MS and EES claims. Others offer theoretical and philosophical analyses of the debate, or take contemporary findings in biology and discuss those findings and their possible theoretical interpretations. All of the chapters draw upon actual biology to make their points. Each chapter is accompanied by a commentary from one or more of the authors contributing to the volume, and that commentary is then replied to. In this way the book offers a discursive approach to the topics covered and exposes key lines of debate for future enquiry. This book is written by practicing biologists and behavioural biologists, historians and philosophers - many of them working in interdisciplinary fields. It is a valuable resource for historians and philosophers of biology as well as for biologists