Evolutionary Synthesis by Joe Cain
STS Occasional Papers number 7. London: UCL Department of Science and Technology Studies, 2018
George Gaylord Simpson (1902-1984) was a leader in twentieth century vertebrate palaeontology, an... more George Gaylord Simpson (1902-1984) was a leader in twentieth century vertebrate palaeontology, and he contributed to making the American Museum of Natural History a powerhouse in the field. In 1959, Simpson left his job at the museum in a bitter dispute with its management. Simpson never published a rationale for his resignation, but he secretly wrote one. After his first day unemployed, Simpson penned a long account of the circumstances surrounding his decision to leave. This STS Occasional Paper presents a complete transcription of Simpson’s “Night Thoughts,” with brief introductory notes. Simpson was scathing of the museum’s Director, Albert Parr, and his once-close colleague, Edwin Colbert. This STS Occasional Paper also gives Colbert a voice, allowing him a counterbalance via correspondence with the editor about his reaction to Simpson’s essay. The biographer will find key insights into a turning point in Simpson’s career. They also will find a rare glimpse into the American Museum’s management during Parr’s directorship. Loyalties were tested to their breaking point. Some loyalties broke.
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In Ruse, Michael (ed.). 2013. Cambridge Encyclopedia of Darwin and Evolutionary Thought, The. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 282-292, Apr 2013
This volume is a comprehensive reference work on the life, labors and influence of the great evol... more This volume is a comprehensive reference work on the life, labors and influence of the great evolutionist Charles Darwin. With more than sixty essays written by an international group representing the leading scholars in the field, this is the definitive work on Darwin. It covers the background to Darwin's discovery of the theory of evolution through natural selection, the work he produced and his contemporaries' reactions to it, and evaluates his influence on science in the 150 years since the publication of On the Origin of Species. It also explores the implications of Darwin's discoveries in religion, politics, gender, literature, culture, philosophy and medicine, critically evaluating Darwin's legacy. Fully illustrated and clearly written, it is suitable for scholars and students as well as the general reader. The wealth of information it provides about the history of evolutionary thought makes it a crucial resource for understanding the controversies that surround evolution today.
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I propose we abandon the unit concept of “the evolutionary synthesis”. There was much more to evo... more I propose we abandon the unit concept of “the evolutionary synthesis”. There was much more to evolutionary studies in the 1920s and 1930s than is suggested in our commonplace narratives of this object in history. Instead, four organising threads capture much of evolutionary studies at this time. First, the nature of species and the process of speciation were dominating, unifying subjects. Second, research into these subjects developed along four main lines, or problem complexes: variation, divergence, isolation, and selection. Some calls for ‹synthesis’ focused on these problem complexes (sometimes on one of these; other times, all). In these calls, comprehensive and pluralist compendia of plausibly relevant elements were preferred over reaching consensus about the value of particular formulae. Third, increasing confidence in the study of common problems coincided with methodological and epistemic changes associated with experimental taxonomy. Finally, the surge of interest in species problems and speciation in the 1930s is intimately tied to larger trends, especially a shifting balance in the life sciences towards process-based biologies and away from object-based naturalist disciplines. Advocates of synthesis in evolution supported, and were adapting to, these larger trends. DOI: 10.1007/s10739-009-9206-z
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in Cain, J. and Ruse, M. (eds.). 2009. Descended from Darwin: Insights into the History of Evolutionary Studies, 1900-1970 (Philadelphia: PA: American Philosophical Society. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, volume 99, part 1), 2009
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In David Sepkoski and Michael Ruse (eds.). The Paleobiological Revolution: Essays on the Growth of Modern Paleontology (Chicago: University of Chicago Press), pp. 346-363., 2009
Simpson was the undisputed American heavy-weight in macro-evolutionary theory prior to paleobiolo... more Simpson was the undisputed American heavy-weight in macro-evolutionary theory prior to paleobiology’s disciplinary formation in the 1970s. Simpson’s intellectual influence on this next generation of thinkers is tied intimately to aggressive and bitter disputes regarding continuity versus originality. In the process, Simpson’s macro-evolutionary views were attacked in volleys of empirical and theoretical criticism. They also were attacked on historical and philosophical grounds, as workers struggled to distinguish new from old. These attacks took on an intensity well beyond the norm for contentiousness theoretical disputes. These events are best understood as ritual patricide. The fight with Simpson functioned as a unifying force in the frantic discipline building underway in macro-evolutionary studies during the 1970s.
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This volume began at a conference, held 22–23 October 2004 at the American Philosophical Society ... more This volume began at a conference, held 22–23 October 2004 at the American Philosophical Society Library, Philadelphia. The main focus was on evolutionary studies in America before, during, and after the famous “evolutionary synthesis” of the 1930s and 1940s. The synthesis period has been the focus of substantial new research and important new thinking. This volume brings together fifteen specialists to explore these developments and to press further.
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While Secretary of the Zoological Society of London (1935–42), Julian Huxley used that institutio... more While Secretary of the Zoological Society of London (1935–42), Julian Huxley used that institution to undertake several types of reform related to his promotion of ‘general biology’. Huxley's goal was to place synthetic, analytical and explanatory work at the centre of the life sciences. Here, zoological specifics served only as instances of generic processes. Huxley's campaigning fitted both into his own lifelong obsession with synoptic views and into much larger transformations in the epistemic culture of the life sciences during the interwar years. However, such campaigns also had their detractors, and the Zoological Society of London provides a superb example of the backlash provoked against these reforms. In 1942 that backlash led directly to Huxley's dismissal as Secretary of that society. This episode serves as a reminder to understand the plurality of views in play during any historical period. In this case, general biology was resisted in a factional dispute over what should be the priority of the life sciences: objects versus processes, induction versus explanation, and particulars versus generics. DOI: 10.1098/rsnr.2010.0067
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Archives of natural history 30: 28-39, 2003
The paper examines book reviews produced for George Gaylord Simpson's (1944) Tempo and mode in ev... more The paper examines book reviews produced for George Gaylord Simpson's (1944) Tempo and mode in evolution. This book was one of a series of key American publications in the synthesis period (1930s–1940s) of evolutionary studies. When these reviews are organised by their authors' specialities, patterns in emphasis arise. The patterns raise important questions about reader perspective and the various ways meaning was imposed onto this book. The analytical concept of polyvalence – the idea that within a community of readers, texts come to have multiple meanings and this pluralism leads to different notions of value – provides a useful tool for drawing implications about this case. In particular, an emphasis on polyvalence and multiple perspectives solves a stalemate between conflicting interpretations of the synthesis period. The reviews of Simpson's book show many perspectives were active in the period, yet the main historical interpretations of the period each build from only one of those multiple perspectives. As a result, each necessarily is incomplete. A more satisfactory understanding of the period will need to build on the concept of polyvalence.
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This paper clarifies the chronology surroundingthe population geneticist TheodosiusDobzhansky's 1... more This paper clarifies the chronology surroundingthe population geneticist TheodosiusDobzhansky's 1937 book, Genetics and theOrigin of Species. Most historians assume (a)Dobzhansky's book began as a series of `Jesuplectures,' sponsored by the Department ofZoology at Columbia University in 1936, and (b)before these lectures were given, Dobzhanskyknew he would produce a volume for the ColumbiaBiological Series (CBS). Archival evidenceforces a rejection of both assumptions.Dobzhansky's 1936 Columbia lectures were notJesup lectures. The book he intended to writefrom his lectures began as a stand-alone textin evolutionary genetics; the CBS had beendefunct since 1910. In May 1937 – sevenmonths after Dobzhansky's Columbia lectures –Leslie Dunn lobbied Columbia University torevive the CBS and the Jesup lecture series. Hethen quietly back dated, naming Dobzhansky aJesup lecturer and co-opting his bookmanuscript as the first volume in the revivedCBS. A detailed chronology of this 1936–1937period is provided. This relocates the CBS andJesup revivals within the narrow context ofzoology at Columbia University. These helpedDunn and colleagues define cutting edges anddefine themselves as managers and promoters ofthose edges.
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Archives of Natural History, 2001
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Sewall Wright taught throughout his long career. Between 1926-1955, he worked at the University o... more Sewall Wright taught throughout his long career. Between 1926-1955, he worked at the University of Chicago. During this time, he developed and taught both undergraduate and graduate courses. By the early 1930s, Wright’s teaching load settled into a core set of four courses: Fundamental Genetics (Zoology 310), Biometry (311), Physiological Genetics (312), and Evolution (313).
The notes reproduced here were written by a student attending three of Wright's core courses during 1951-1952. Robert E. Sloan, a master’s student with an interest in paleontology and evolution, wrote these notes.
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Isis, 1993
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Archives of Natural History, 2000
ABSTRACTUnder the auspices of the Society for the Study of Evolution, Ernst Mayr launched Evoluti... more ABSTRACTUnder the auspices of the Society for the Study of Evolution, Ernst Mayr launched Evolution late in 1946. For three years he used this journal as a means for implementing reform in evolutionary studies and evolutionary taxonomy. These reforms included: establishing a community of discourse on evolutionary “factors”, “forces”, and “mechanisms”, introducing “balance” in that discourse (which entailed working to offset an impression of intellectual imperialism by Drosophila and evolutionary genetics), and working to convince fellow “museum men” that evolutionary systematics and the study of evolutionary mechanisms offered the penultimate goal for taxonomy. Tirelessly recruiting, Mayr encountered considerable difficulty on each front during his tenure. By the time he stepped down, it was by no means clear that the ideal of synthesis and co-operation had been achieved. Analysis of Mayr's efforts reveals the group of synthesis actors more as a loose coalition of co-incident interests than a fully reconciled, evenly balanced community.
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British Journal for The History of Science, 2000
Intellectual and professional reforms in evolutionary studies between 1935 and 1950 included subs... more Intellectual and professional reforms in evolutionary studies between 1935 and 1950 included substantial expansion, diversification, and realignment of community infrastructure. Theodosius Dobzhansky, Julian Huxley and Alfred Emerson organized the Society for the Study of Speciation at the 1939 AAAS Columbus meeting as one response (among many coming into place) to concerns about ‘isolation’ and ‘lack of contact’ among speciation workers worried about ‘dispersed’ and ‘scattered’ resources in this newly robust ‘borderline’ domain. Simply constructed, the SSS sought neither the radical reorganization of specialities nor the creation of some new discipline. Instead, it was designed to facilitate: to simplify exchange of information and to provide a minimally invasive avenue for connecting disparate researchers. Emerson served as SSS secretary and was its principal agent. After publishing one block of publications, however, the SSS became ‘quiescent’. Anxious to promote his own agenda, Ernst Mayr tried to manoeuvre around Emerson in an effort to revitalize the project. After meeting impediments, he moved his efforts elsewhere. The SSS was too short-lived to merit a claim for major impact within the community; however, it reveals important features of community activity during the synthesis period and stands in contrast to later efforts by George Simpson, Dobzhansky, and Mayr.
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Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, 2002
The Committee on Common Problems of Genetics, Paleontology, and Systematics (United States Nation... more The Committee on Common Problems of Genetics, Paleontology, and Systematics (United States National Research Council) marks part of a critical transition in American evolutionary studies. Launched in 1942 to facilitate cross-training between genetics and paleontology, the Committee was also designed to amplify paleontologist voices in modern studies of evolutionary processes. During coincidental absences of founders George Gaylord Simpson and Theodosius Dobzhansky, an opportunistic Ernst Mayr moved into the project’s leadership. Mayr used the opportunity for programmatic reforms he had been pursuing elsewhere for more than a decade. These are evident in the Bulletins he distributed under Committee auspices. In his brief tenure as Committee leader, Mayr gained his first substantial foothold within the coalescing community infrastructure of evolutionary studies. Carrying this momentum forward led Mayr directly into the project to launch the journal Evolution. The sociology of interdisciplinary activity provides useful tools for understanding the Committee’s value in the broad sweep of change in evolutionary studies during the synthesis period.
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Ernst Mayr's contributions to 20th century biology extend far beyond his defense of certain eleme... more Ernst Mayr's contributions to 20th century biology extend far beyond his defense of certain elements in evolutionary theory. At the center of mid-century efforts in American evolutionary studies to build large research communities, Mayr spearheaded campaigns to create a Society for the Study of Evolution and a dedicated journal,Evolution, in 1946. Begun to offset the prominence ofDrosophila biology and evolutionary genetics, these campaigns changed course repeatedly, as impediments appeared, tactics shifted, and compromises built a growing coalition of support. Preserved, however, were designs to “balance” the community and journal with careful equation of status and explicit partitioning of responsibilities within the working coalition. Choice terms such as “cooperation” and “unity” carried a strong political message. Mayr's editorship ofEvolution provides a superb example of these “balancing” efforts. The mid-century infrastructural activities described herein also represented aggressive attempts to leverage control across several layers of community. Leaders of these campaigns sought: (1) to promote evolutionary studies as a modernized research discipline and place it at the center of American biology, (2) to promote evolutionary studies within existing disciplines — e.g. systematics, genetics, and paleontology, (3) to foster certain research styles within evolutionary studies, and (4) to emphasize certain solutions to prominent research questions. Throughout, Mayr interjected his priorities, tactics and energy.
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Regular contact with anyone interested reprints these little known documents Emerson circulated i... more Regular contact with anyone interested reprints these little known documents Emerson circulated in 1941. These are the first and only materials distributed on behalf of the Society for the Study of Speciation. Few copies have survived the intervening years, and these have been used only rarely by historians interested in evolutionary theory. To these original documents, Cain adds a brief introduction, editorial notes, and a summary of his detailed analysis of the Society’s membership.
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Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 94: xlii + 160., 2004
The Committee on Common Problems provided a crucial foothold for those seeking a synthetic view o... more The Committee on Common Problems provided a crucial foothold for those seeking a synthetic view of evolution in 1940s America. These forgotten documents show the Committee at work: building coalitions, defining priorities, and negotiating a common vision. They also show factions within the Committee competing to lead this emerging community.
Includes:
Report of Meeting, October 1943
Committee Bulletins 1-6, 1944-1946
Appendices, including initial recuiting letter for the Committee, its mailing list, reading lists recommended by the Committee on genetics, paleontology, systematics and paleobotany, and questionnaire from George Gaylord Simpson while organising the 1947 Princeton conference.
These historical documents offer an opportunity to examine firsthand the Committee’s activities and to reconsider questions of motivation, interaction, and influence.
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Cain, Joe. 2004. . In D. Williams and P. Forey. Milestones in Systematics (London: CRC Press), pp... more Cain, Joe. 2004. . In D. Williams and P. Forey. Milestones in Systematics (London: CRC Press), pp. 19-48.
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Evolution: The First Three Billion Years, edited by Michael Ruse and Joseph Travis, 2009
11 articles in Evolution: The First Three Billion Years, edited by Michael Ruse and Joseph Travis... more 11 articles in Evolution: The First Three Billion Years, edited by Michael Ruse and Joseph Travis.
Cain's entries include:
- Chetverikov, Sergi
- Mayr, Ernst
- Huxley, Julian
- Lack, David
- Romer, Alfred
- Simpson, George Gaylord
- Timofeeff-Ressovsky, Nikolai Vladimirovich
- Evolution: The Modern Synthesis
- Genetics and the Origin of Species
- Systematics and the Origin of Species
- Tempo and Mode in Evolution
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Evolutionary Synthesis by Joe Cain
The notes reproduced here were written by a student attending three of Wright's core courses during 1951-1952. Robert E. Sloan, a master’s student with an interest in paleontology and evolution, wrote these notes.
Includes:
Report of Meeting, October 1943
Committee Bulletins 1-6, 1944-1946
Appendices, including initial recuiting letter for the Committee, its mailing list, reading lists recommended by the Committee on genetics, paleontology, systematics and paleobotany, and questionnaire from George Gaylord Simpson while organising the 1947 Princeton conference.
These historical documents offer an opportunity to examine firsthand the Committee’s activities and to reconsider questions of motivation, interaction, and influence.
Cain's entries include:
- Chetverikov, Sergi
- Mayr, Ernst
- Huxley, Julian
- Lack, David
- Romer, Alfred
- Simpson, George Gaylord
- Timofeeff-Ressovsky, Nikolai Vladimirovich
- Evolution: The Modern Synthesis
- Genetics and the Origin of Species
- Systematics and the Origin of Species
- Tempo and Mode in Evolution
The notes reproduced here were written by a student attending three of Wright's core courses during 1951-1952. Robert E. Sloan, a master’s student with an interest in paleontology and evolution, wrote these notes.
Includes:
Report of Meeting, October 1943
Committee Bulletins 1-6, 1944-1946
Appendices, including initial recuiting letter for the Committee, its mailing list, reading lists recommended by the Committee on genetics, paleontology, systematics and paleobotany, and questionnaire from George Gaylord Simpson while organising the 1947 Princeton conference.
These historical documents offer an opportunity to examine firsthand the Committee’s activities and to reconsider questions of motivation, interaction, and influence.
Cain's entries include:
- Chetverikov, Sergi
- Mayr, Ernst
- Huxley, Julian
- Lack, David
- Romer, Alfred
- Simpson, George Gaylord
- Timofeeff-Ressovsky, Nikolai Vladimirovich
- Evolution: The Modern Synthesis
- Genetics and the Origin of Species
- Systematics and the Origin of Species
- Tempo and Mode in Evolution
Immortalised in bronze, that dog provoked passions for and against. Insulted, pro-science groups attacked the statue itself, marched in protest, and fought back with symbols of their own. Passions ran so high that electric alarms and 24-hour police guards were needed to prevent the statue’s destruction. In 1910, the memorial was removed in the middle of the night, and it never was seen in public again.
In 1985, anti-vivisection groups sponsored a replacement, a re-interpretation, and secured its position in a prominent spot of Battersea Park. But this, too, caused protest, and was quietly moved to an inconspicuous nook elsewhere in the park. It stands there today.
This book introduces both memorials, with an original photographic record of the second. The aim is to revive a small piece of London history. Also, to catch a glimpse of a fascinating story involving political activism, history of science, and a small brown terrier who came to symbolise an issue we still struggle to resolve.
Ecology. 3: 44-68.
Systematics. 4: 151-176.
.....I untangled three conflated uses of the “consistency” argument for TM: literal consistency, extrapolation, and a shared explanatory tool box. The latter most precisely describes (1) the relation between Simpson and other MS synthetic theorists, and (2) the relation between Simpson’s explanations for micro-, macro-, and mega-evolution. This topic provides only one (and not the most significant) point regarding TM. Simpson’s other agendas were separable from the construction of his comprehensive theory, as TM was far more than a “consistency” argument.
.....A research school-level of analysis provides a finer-grained study of synthetic theories. This recognizes Simpson’s intellectual achievements plus the dissent within individual fields. Also, it allows for a study of the competition between conflicting synthetic theories. Furthermore, the study of explanatory tool boxes provides an alternative method for studying evolutionary theorists.