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The Generalized Theories of Evolution

Why it is the Theory of Evolution that is Constantly Generalized?

Ozan Altan Altinok

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Outline

• Introduction: Too quick generalizations?
• Evolution, theories, facts, phenomena and applications
• The Theories of Evolution; from many to one?
• The more general the better? Cartwright and how the laws lie
• Biology in time; the historicity of a fundamental science
• Conclusion; still about the same phenomena?

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Too quick generalizations?

Since the publication of On the Origin of Species in 1859, the theory

• f evolution has became one of the

hottest zones of conflict in the intellectual domain. However, if a theory develops in time through the efforts of the scientists, how come it was such a strong point of departure for the most?

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Marx, Haeckel and Spencer, each and everyone has employed evolutionary theory to the social domain to an extent

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Too Quick Generalizations?

“Civilization and the life of nations are governed by the same laws as prevail throughout nature and organic life.” (Haeckel, 1914) “Ethical ideas and sentiments have to be considered as parts of the phenomena of life at

• large. We have to deal with man as a product of evolution, with society as a product of

evolution, and with moral phenomena as products of evolution.” (Spencer, 1890) “Darwin's work is most important and suits my purpose in that it provides a basis in natural science for the historical class struggle. One does, of course, have to put up with the clumsy English style of argument. Despite all its shortcomings, it is here that, for the first time, 'teleology' in natural science is not only dealt a mortal blow but its rational meaning is empirically explained.” (Marx, 1861)

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Too Quick Generalizations

If we assume the orthodox view that:

• Scientific theories develop and progresses
• The applications of these theories accumulate
• The resulting theory is generally for the better
• And the theory of evolution through the changes it underwent

How can its extension be useful or accurate in any period of time?

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Evolution, theories, facts, phenomena and applications

Although all three examples have used evolution in a sense, not all of it is extension. But what was extended, given that Darwin sustained “Evolution” through a mechanism? If we percieve science with the general perspective provided by Hacking (1983), it is much easier to touch upon. Where does a theory start or end?

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Hacking`s account of science and history of science asserts that there are many other things beyond theories in science, which are influential in the whole body of scientific knowledge. “The realist, it is argued, speaks of a future, an ideal. We may converge to theories which by simplifying models we gradually connect with laws of

• phenomena. That is the truth at which we aim. I respond to this in an

inductive way. Every single year since 1840, physics alone has used successfully more (incompatible) models of phenomena in its day-to-day business, than it used in the preceding year. The ideal end of science is not unity but absolute plethora.” (Hacking, 1983)

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Evolution, theories, facts, phenomena and applications

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I believe it is more convenient to talk about “Generalization of the phenomenon of evolution” or “Application of a general structure” in the early generalizations. When the phenomenon of evolution is separated from the larger body of evolutionary theory, there is much more room for the multiplicity of theories and mechanisms to fit in. And through ist developement we did not only deal with evolution, but the concepts that are employed in the evolutionary theory also led us to a great variety of „phenomena“.

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Evolution, theories, facts, phenomena and applications

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The Theories of Evolution, from Many to One

Evolution by means of natural selection is of course a brilliant and a very strong mechanism, it was the mechanism that convinced many people - compared to previous mechanisms of evolution at least. However, through the development of the theory, we have seen different forces such as; genetic drift, gene flow and mutations, eventually approaching to different mechanisms, sub-disciplines and general theories like The Modern Synthesis, The Spandrels of San Marco, Evo-Devo, the Epigenetic Inheritance (Jablonka, Lamb 2014) to „explain the phenomena“ that is evolution. Furthermore, the everincreasing generalization trend within biology is still towards a wider understanding of evolution (Lalaland, Wray, 2014)

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The Theories of Evolution, from Many to One

The object of evolution has also been prone to open to debates, evolution of species, populations, even “introns” (Catania & Lynch, 2008), and parasitic relationships (Kurtz, Schulenburg, Reusch, 2016) and single genes have

been studied as evolving objects prone to evolutionary forces. So much that, we can say that evolution has extended to biology much more often than it extended to any other domain or discipline. The abundance of objects that fall under the domain of biology regardless of their origin – molecules, cells, organisms, whole populations – already proves the very extendibility of evolution.

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The more general the better? Cartwright and how the laws lie

What is the direction of the evolutionary theory? Towards more general or more specific? I believe that because of the multiplicity of mechanisms and the high number of „layers“ on which evolution functions, it is towards more general. According to Cartwright (1983), the generality of theories in scope does not provide an evidence by itself towards the truth and reality of these theories. Furthermore, in order to be put to work by scientists, these theories always need approximations, auxiliary theories, calculations and isolations.

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The more general the better? Cartwright and how the laws lie

„The standard view of explanation in science—the covering law model— assumes that knowledge of laws lies at the basis of our ability to explain

• phenomena. But in fact most of the high-level claims in science are ceteris

paribus generalizations, which are false unless certain precise conditions

• btain. Given the explanatory force of ceteris paribus generalizations but the

paucity of true laws, the covering law model of explanation must be false. There is, it is argued, a trade-off between truth and explanatory power.” (Cartwright, 1983, p.44)

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The more general the better? Cartwright and how the laws lie

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Intermediate Laws Applied Laws Fundamental Law

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Theory of Evolution Biology Sociology Psychology

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Abstract Laws Practical Generalizations

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Biology in time; the historicity of a fundamental science

How does the historicity of evolutionary theory relate to its generalizability? “The methodology of historical narratives is clearly a methodology of historical science. Indeed evolutionary biology, as a science, in many respects is more similar to the Geisteswissenschaften than to the exact

• sciences. When drawing the borderline between the exact sciences and the

Geisteswissenschaften, this line would go right through the middle of biology and attach functional biology to the exact sciences while classifying evolutionary biology with the Geisteswissenschaften.“ (Mayr, 2004)

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Biology in time; the historicity of a fundamental science

The very historicity of biology enables us to see the general concept of change in a systematic way. Moreover, in order to explain change in general, the evolutionary theory is thus expanded to non-Darwinian mechanisms. The practical mechanisms and modeling in evolutionary theory makes it a better candidate in many respects to be generalized rather than less quantifiable and loose models of social sciences.

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Conclusion; still about the same phenomena?

The evolutionary theory is rich in its objects, in each and every layer of

• rganismic complexity, from information to molecules and to the whole

environment are directly subject to biological inquiry and evolutionary approaches are very central to the entire science of biology. The very historicity of evolutionary theory and the abundance of historical explanations force biology to extend itself – have different kind of explanations and use other sciences such as paleontology to explain – leading to an even greater diversity.

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Conclusion; still about the same phenomena?

Given that we are not strict realists about theories, the disunity perspective explains how evolution can be applied to other domains, as well as legitimizing such applications. There is more to evolution than theory.

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References

Haeckel E, The History of Creation, 6th edition (1914), volume 2, page 429. Spencer H., (1893). “Ethics of Individual Life” Marx K., Engels F., Marx-Engels Collected Works [MECW], vol. 40 (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1975), 441

• F. Catania, M Lynch, PLoS biology 6 (11), e283

Kurtz J, Schulenburg H, Reusch TBH. 2016. `Host-parasite coevolution-Rapid reciprocal adaptation and ist genetic

• basis. Zoology 119. 10.1016/j.zool.2016.06.011.

Jablonka E, Lamb M, Zeligowski A. Evolution In Four Dimensions : Genetic, Epigenetic, Behavioral, And Symbolic Variation In The History Of Life [e-book]. Cambridge, Massachusetts ; London, England : A Bradford Book, The MIT Press, [2014]; 2014. Available from: MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY's Catalog, Ipswich, MA. Laland, K., Uller, T., Feldman, M., Sterelny, K., Müller, G. B., Moczek, A., & ... Strassmann, J. E. (2014). Does evolutionary theory need a rethink?. Nature, 514(7521), 161-164. doi:10.1038/514161a Cartwright, N. (1983). How the laws of physics lie. Oxford : Clarendon Press ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1983. Hacking, I. (1983). Representing and intervening : introductory topics in the philosophy of natural science. Cambridge [Cambridgeshire] ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1983. Mayr, E. (2004). What makes biology unique? : considerations on the autonomy of a scientific discipline. New York : Cambridge University Press, c2004.

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