Incommensurability in Evolutionary Biology: : The Extended Evolutionary Synthesis Controversy
(2023) In Interdisciplinary Evolution Research 8. p.165-165- Abstract
- Evolutionary biologists today debate whether it is convenient to revise the standard theory of evolution, or if an Extended Evolutionary Synthesis is necessary. However, the conceptual relationship between the standard theory of evolution (also known as the Modern Synthesis) and a putative Extended Evolutionary Synthesis is not clear. One concept in philosophy of science that has traditionally been put in place to make sense of the conceptual relationship between competing theories or frameworks is that of Kuhnian incommensurability. In a book chapter, Pigliucci argued that the Modern Synthesis and the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis are not incommensurable frameworks and that their relationship is best understood as a business-as-usual... (More)
- Evolutionary biologists today debate whether it is convenient to revise the standard theory of evolution, or if an Extended Evolutionary Synthesis is necessary. However, the conceptual relationship between the standard theory of evolution (also known as the Modern Synthesis) and a putative Extended Evolutionary Synthesis is not clear. One concept in philosophy of science that has traditionally been put in place to make sense of the conceptual relationship between competing theories or frameworks is that of Kuhnian incommensurability. In a book chapter, Pigliucci argued that the Modern Synthesis and the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis are not incommensurable frameworks and that their relationship is best understood as a business-as-usual extension of our current knowledge about evolution. However, while valuable, we believe that Pigliucci’s analysis is limited in several respects. After pointing out what these limitations are, in this chapter we try to provide an alternative analysis of incommensurability between the Modern Synthesis and the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis. We argue that there are compelling reasons to think that both frameworks are incommensurable, thereby leaving the door open for future philosophical explorations. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/fa679df7-2a98-49fd-8f95-959e07ed92ae
- author
- Gefaell, Juan LU and Saborido, Cristian
- publishing date
- 2023-06-13
- type
- Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
- publication status
- published
- host publication
- Life and Mind : New Directions in the Philosophy of Biology and Cognitive Science - New Directions in the Philosophy of Biology and Cognitive Science
- series title
- Interdisciplinary Evolution Research
- editor
- Viejo, José Manuel and Sanjuán, Mariano
- volume
- 8
- pages
- 183 pages
- publisher
- Springer
- ISSN
- 2199-3068
- 2199-3076
- ISBN
- 978-3-031-30303-6
- 978-3-031-30304-3
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- id
- fa679df7-2a98-49fd-8f95-959e07ed92ae
- date added to LUP
- 2025-01-27 14:18:48
- date last changed
- 2025-02-05 12:12:09
@inbook{fa679df7-2a98-49fd-8f95-959e07ed92ae,
abstract = {{Evolutionary biologists today debate whether it is convenient to revise the standard theory of evolution, or if an Extended Evolutionary Synthesis is necessary. However, the conceptual relationship between the standard theory of evolution (also known as the Modern Synthesis) and a putative Extended Evolutionary Synthesis is not clear. One concept in philosophy of science that has traditionally been put in place to make sense of the conceptual relationship between competing theories or frameworks is that of Kuhnian incommensurability. In a book chapter, Pigliucci argued that the Modern Synthesis and the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis are not incommensurable frameworks and that their relationship is best understood as a business-as-usual extension of our current knowledge about evolution. However, while valuable, we believe that Pigliucci’s analysis is limited in several respects. After pointing out what these limitations are, in this chapter we try to provide an alternative analysis of incommensurability between the Modern Synthesis and the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis. We argue that there are compelling reasons to think that both frameworks are incommensurable, thereby leaving the door open for future philosophical explorations.}},
author = {{Gefaell, Juan and Saborido, Cristian}},
booktitle = {{Life and Mind : New Directions in the Philosophy of Biology and Cognitive Science}},
editor = {{Viejo, José Manuel and Sanjuán, Mariano}},
isbn = {{978-3-031-30303-6}},
issn = {{2199-3068}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{06}},
pages = {{165--165}},
publisher = {{Springer}},
series = {{Interdisciplinary Evolution Research}},
title = {{Incommensurability in Evolutionary Biology: : The Extended Evolutionary Synthesis Controversy}},
volume = {{8}},
year = {{2023}},
}