Evolutionary Restraints

The Contentious History of Group Selection

By: Mark E. Borrello

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Hardcover | 15 October 2010 | Edition Number 1

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Hardcover
228 Pages

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2.39 x 1.71 x 0.2

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Much of the history of the evolutionary debate since Darwin has focused on the level at which natural selection occurs. Most biologists acknowledge multiple levels of selection--from the gene, the trait, and the organism, to the family, the group, and the species. However, it is the debate about group selection that Mark E. Borrello focuses on in "Evolutionary Restraints." Tracing the history of biological attempts to determine whether selection could lead to the evolution of fitter groups, Borrello takes as his focus the British naturalist V. C. Wynne-Edwards, who proposed that animals could regulate their own population levels and thereby avoid overexploitation of their food and other resources. By the mid-twentieth century, Wynne-Edwards became the primary advocate for group selection theory, and precipitated a debate that engaged the most significant evolutionary biologists including Ernst Mayr, John Maynard Smith, G.C. Williams and Richard Dawkins. The resultant interpretations and arguments bled out into broader conversations about population regulation, environmental crises, and the evolution of human and animal social behavior. "Evolutionary Restraints" illuminates both the process of science and the role of controversy in the process. From its origins in Darwin's own thinking, this debate, Borrello reminds us, remains relevant and alive to this day.

Industry Reviews

"Group selection has a turbulent history, and this book, about a theory that was prematurely rejected and subsequently accepted, covers an important episode in the history of science that is more timely than ever before. Now that evolution as a multilevel process is becoming widely accepted, a proper history is badly needed; Evolutionary Restraints provides that." - David Sloan Wilson, author of Darwin's Cathedral"

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Non-Fiction Science Biology, Life Sciences Life Sciences in General Evolution Science in General History of Science Miscellaneous Items

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction	p. 1
Charles Darwin and Natural Selection	p. 7
Social Insects, Superorganisms, and Mutual Aid	p. 24
Vero Copner Wynne-Edwards	p. 40
Theory Development	p. 56
Animal Dispersion	p. 75
Critique of Wynne-Edwards	p. 91
The New Paradigm of the Gene	p. 130
The Death of Wynne-Edwards and the Life of an Idea	p. 152
Notes	p. 171
Bibliography	p. 193
Index	p. 207
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Evolutionary Restraints

The Contentious History of Group Selection

At a Glance

Hardcover

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

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