How the Leopard Changed Its Spots: Evolution of Complexity

by B. C. Goodwin (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  1994

  $3.35

  Darwin's concept of the origin of species by natural selection has been a spectacularly successful and durable scientific theory. But it actually fails in a basic objective, which is to explain the origins of the qualitative differences of structure between species. Life on Earth is described purely in historical terms, with no explanation of how different forms of organisms are generated. This is like saying that the Earth's orbit round the sun just happened to be elliptical, without any explanation of why that must be so because of the laws of dynamic motion. Goodwin's view of biology is radically different. He proposes that any organism is a dynamic self-organizing process that obeys certain principles of order. This offers answers to problems that Darwinism with its emphasis on genes and natural selection as determinants of biological form cannot answer. Goodwin describes how particular forms emerge and persist in different types of organism: examples include the leaf pattern of higher plants and the origin of the eye. Once the basic mechanisms of development are understood, these particular forms become self-explanatory.

• Used

  Paperback
  1995

  $3.35

  Darwin's concept of the origin of species by natural selection has been a spectacularly successful and durable scientific theory, but it arguably fails in a basic objective, which is to explain the origins of the qualitative differences of structure between species. Life on earth is described purely in historical terms, with no explanation of how different forms of organisms are generated. This text argues that it is possible to understand evolution as a process that is pushed by the intrinsic properties of living matter, rather than pulled by natural selection. It shows that seemingly complex structures such as wings or eyes can be built up in a series of simple self-organizing steps, self-organizing in the sense that they arise directly from the chemistry of the developing organism's tissues. In this way, developmental biology acquires the precision of the physical sciences.