Tag Archives: Evolution

Evolution quote: Sirks and Zirkle

Posted on April 25, 2011 by

Reposted from Evolving Thoughts At this point it might be well to insert a fact that has generally been overlooked by the historians of biology. The pre-evolutionary concept of species is generally given as a universally accepted view that species … Continue reading →

Posted in Biology, History, Philosophy | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Darwin’s motivation

Posted on December 5, 2010 by

For some time now I have been convinced that Darwin’s original and most pressing problem was not adaptation. It was the existence of taxonomic diversity. I have thought that the debates over what was a natural classification amongst the unjustly … Continue reading →

Posted in Evolution, History | Tagged , | 1 Comment

More deaths

Posted on October 18, 2010 by

Two researchers have recently died who are relevant to evolutionary biology. Leigh Van Valen, the originator of the “Red Queen Hypothesis” and a proponent of the Ecological Species Concept, died yesterday, John Hawks is reporting. I had some correspondence with … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy | Tagged , | Leave a comment

On the origins of creativity

Posted on September 25, 2010 by

I’m not a very creative guy. I had an idea back in the 1970s, but I managed not to do anything about it in time for someone else to do something with an almost identical idea. I think I dodged … Continue reading →

Posted in Biology, Epistemology, Evolution, Philosophy | Tagged , | Leave a comment

George C. Williams dies

Posted on September 11, 2010 by

Few evolutionary biologists have had the impact within and without their field as has George Williams, who died this week. His groundbreaking Adaptation and Natural Selection in 1966 set off the debate over levels of selection, the ubiquity of natural … Continue reading →

Posted in Biology, Philosophy | Tagged , | Leave a comment