Teorie evoluzionistiche attuali
After examining paleontological data, that is to say, how the forms of life distribute themselves or come about in progressive geological periods (the major groups, such as phylum, class and order, in a discontinuous way, whereas the various minor groups, such as family, genus and species, in a more...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | Italian |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Ed. Pontificia Univ. Gregoriana
1981
|
| In: |
Gregorianum
Year: 1981, Volume: 62, Issue: 1, Pages: 51-73 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
|
| Summary: | After examining paleontological data, that is to say, how the forms of life distribute themselves or come about in progressive geological periods (the major groups, such as phylum, class and order, in a discontinuous way, whereas the various minor groups, such as family, genus and species, in a more gradual manner), the author admits the validity of the phenomenon of evolution. By the evolutionary phenomenon is meant the transformation and the increasing complexity of living things. The phenomenon of evolution, even if it encounters difficulty in the course of being explained, ought to be preferred to fixism with regard to living beings. This preference is based on philosophical reasons and on the exigencies of scientific method. The theories or hypotheses which attempt to account for evolution are many, but they can be reduced substantially to two: those which attribute evolution principally to internal final causes, as Lamarck sought to do, or those which explain the phenomena of evolution only by means of random mutation and natural selection, as did Darwin. First the author has amended some of the affirmations which are generally made concerning the two founders of modern evolutionary theory. Then the current theories are exposed by grouping them according to whether they are afinalistic or finalistic. The former group includes: the synthetic theory, the gene duplication theory, the transduction theory, the gene assimilation theory, the neutral theory, the neutony theory and that of dialectical materialism. The finalistic theories treated are: that of panpsychism and other theories based on internal final causes which are not of a psychic nature: the theories of Leonardi, Dalcq and Grassé. At the conclusion the author raises the question concerning whether the great evolution is continuing or has ceased. |
|---|---|
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Gregorianum
|