Evolutionary Restraints
The Contentious History of Group Selection
- Contents
- Review Quotes
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1. Charles Darwin and Natural Selection
Chapter 2. Social Insects, Superorganisms, and Mutual Aid
Chapter 3. Vero Copner Wynne-Edwards
Chapter 4. Theory Development
Chapter 5. Animal Dispersion
Chapter 6. Critique of Wynne-Edwards
Chapter 7. The New Paradigm of the Gene
Chapter 8. The Death of Wynne-Edwards and the Life of an Idea
Notes
Bibliography
Index
“This superb book traces the history of the debate over the levels at which natural selection operates. Evolutionists, knowing that the secrets of the present are to be explained by the past, will welcome this work for the great insights that it throws on contemporary debates.”
“Few issues in biological theory have excited political commentators and the educated public as much as group selection. Whether nature teaches a liberal or a conservative view of human society once seemed to turn on this question. This readable but scholarly history of the debate debunks some myths and reveals how biologists at the center of the controversy were influenced by their fieldwork, by the developing theoretical context, and by the social issues of the day. It will be fascinating reading for biologists, as well as historians of science and a wide audience in the humanities and social sciences.”
“Mark Borrello has filled a much-needed gap in the literature on the issue of group selection, by focusing on one of the subject’s earliest and most vociferous advocates, V. C. Wynne-Edwards. A philosopher of science who writes good history, and a historian of science who writes clear and comprehensible philosophy, Borrello takes the reader carefully through the history of group selectionist ideas, starting with Darwin, through Wynne-Edwards’s formulation of the idea, especially in his 1962 book, Animal Dispersion, and reactions to it. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of a highly controversial, and little studied, aspect of the evolutionary synthesis.”
“Philosophers have expended tremendous energy immersed in controversies about the levels at which natural selection acts, often acting as if this were a theoretical problem to be solved philosophically. In this delightfully accessible volume, Borrello very effectively places in clear historical context the contributions of the leading group selectionist Wynne-Edwards and his interactions with contemporaries. Borrello makes an important contribution to the ongoing discussions about selection, and provides an outstanding example of what is gained by joining first-rate history and philosophy of science.”
“A fascinating study. . . . Recommended.”
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