Philosophy Dictionary of ArgumentsHome
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| Terminology: This section explains special features of the language used by the individual authors. _____________Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments. | |||
| Author | Concept | Summary/Quotes | Sources |
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Stephen Jay Gould on Terminology - Dictionary of Arguments
I 190 1. Stasis: most species show little change in one direction or another during their presence on Earth. 2. Sudden appearance: in all areas of life, species do not occur due to incessant changes in their predecessors, but suddenly and "fully developed". I 191 Evolution/Gould: evolution essentially proceeds in two ways: a) Definition phyletic transformation: an entire population changes from one state to another. If all evolutionary changes were to occur in this way, life would not last long. (See Evolution/Gould). b) Definition speciation: new species branch off from existing ones. All speciation theories assume that splits occur quickly in very small populations. Most theoreticians prefer the "allopatric" speciation (which happens in a different place). This is the orthodox view. With the "sympatric" speciation, new forms appear within the distribution area of the previous form. I 198 Definition preadaption: preadaption is derived from the thesis that other functions would be fulfilled in the initial stages, e.g. half a jaw could support the gills. Half a wing may have been used to catch prey, or to control body temperature. I 240 Definition Eozoon: an Eozoon is an early form of an animal. I 256 Definition protists: protists are single cell precursors. Definition Metazoen: a Metazoen is a multicellular offspring. I 258 Definition homologous similarity in common precursors: two organisms may have the same feature because they got it from a common ancestor. Definition analogous similarity: organisms with analogous similarity have no common precursors. The two organisms have a common feature that represents the result of a separate but similar evolutionary change in independent lines of development. I 281 Definition parallelism, Definition convergence: parallelism is a separate development of similar features in the course of evolution. This occurs very often. - - - II 56 Definition diploid: animals with paired chromosomes in both sexes are diploid. Some animals use a different trait for sex determination: the females are diploid, but the males have instead of each female pair only one chromosome and are considered to be the first males. Definition haploid: organisms with only one chromosome (half of the diploid number) are haploid. In other words, the males develop ironically from unfertilized eggs and have no father. Fertilized eggs, on the other hand, produce diploid females. Animals using this system are called Definition Haplodiploid: the males develop from unfertilized eggs and have no father. Fertilized eggs, on the other hand, produce diploid females. This can be used to control the number of females. II 57 This fascinating system can help explain the origin of social systems in ants. Or also, for example, that a male mite dies before its own birth after fertilising its sisters in the womb. At least 10% of all known animal species are haplodiploid. II 186 Definition homeotic mutation: legs or parts of legs replace a variety of structures on the head mainly antennae and parts of the mouth. Not all incorrectly placed parts are homoeoses. William Bateson (not Gregory), who later invented the word genetics, called cases only homeotically in which organs that have the same development or evolutionary origin are replaced. II 192 Viable homoeostats that emulate the primordial forms are not really reborn ancestors. Double elements are formed, no old patterns are found. II 193 These things make it clear how few genes are responsible for regulating the basic order in the body of a fruit fly. II 240 Definition zoocentric: zoocentrism is a erspective that derives general principles from the behaviour of other animals and then completely subsumes the human being into this category, because we are undoubtedly also animals. Definition anthropocentric: a point of view is anthropocentric when it tries to subsume nature in us by considering our peculiarities as the goal of life from the very beginning. The zoocentric view can be extended to the caricature, which is often referred to as "nothing but error": the human is "nothing more than an animal" (reductionism). Popular science is flooding us with the excessively broad version of zoocentrism. II 331 Definition "genetic drift"/Gould: the genetic drift is the process of random increase or decrease of the gene frequency. II 352 Definition Clade: a clade is a branch on an evolutionary tree. Cladism tries to establish the branching pattern for a number of related species. II 353 Definition sister group: the sister group forms an upside-down Ypsilon: two tribes sharing a common ancestor from which no other tribe branches off. Gorillas and chimpanzees form a sister group. We can then consider the chimpanzee gorilla group as a unit and ask which primate forms the sister group with it. II 354 Definition derived feature: properties that only occur for members of a direct lineage are derived features. For example, all mammals have hair, which is not the case with any other vertebrate. II 355 Hair is a derived feature for the class of mammals, because it has developed only once in the common ancestors of mammals and therefore identifies a true branch in the family tree of vertebrates. Common derived characteristics are common to two or more strains and can be used to identify sister groups. II 356 GouldVsCladism: most derived features are ambiguous: they either tend to be too easily delimitable, or they are adaptive enough to be developed by several strains through natural selection independently of each other. II 360 Definition classification (cladism): classification was designed for the purpose of reflecting relative dimensions of similarity. Definition phenetism: phenetism is another theory of classification, it focuses solely on the overall similarity and tries to evade the reproach of subjectivity by referring to a large number of features, all of which are expressed numerically and processed by the computer. II 374 Definition "Telegony": Telegony means that features of long extinct ancestors reappear. They are also called "descendants from afar." Telegony refers to the idea that a producer could influence offspring that were not conceived by him. Definition "Pangenesis" (1868, provisionally developed by Darwin) thesis: all cells of the body produce small particles called "Gemmulae", which circulate throughout the body, accumulate in the gametes and eventually transfer the features to the offspring. GouldVsPangenesis: since the "Gemmulae" can change, acquired features can be inherited, which would be Lamarckism. II 377 Definition orthogenesis: orthogenesis is the assumption that a pre-drawn path is followed. - - - IV 103 Doctrine of uniformity: (represented by Charles Lyell and James Hutton) the uppermost layers of the earth have remained unchanged for millions of years. IV 153 Definition Monogeny: (19th century): thesis: Monogeny is the assumption of a common ancestry of all humans from the ancestors Adam and Eve. (Lower races were later degenerated from original perfection.) Definition Polygeny: (19th century): thesis: Polygeny is the assumption that Adam and Eve are only the ancestors of the white peoples. IV 159 Definition subspecies: a subspecies is a population inhabiting a specific geographical area. IV 357 Definition sympatric: sympatric means being in the same place. Definition allopatric: allopatric means being in separate places (assuming that species can only develop separately). - - - III 19 The "Full House": Gould's central argument: natural reality is an accumulation of individuals in populations. Variation is not reducible but "real" in the sense that "the world" consists of it. Error: it is wrong to always describe populations (according to Plato) as "average", which is then considered "typical". III 67 "Full House": "Full House" describes the need to focus not only on an abstract measure of an average or a central tendency, but on the variation within whole systems. Error: it is an error to consider the likely outcome for a single individual as a measure of a central tendency._____________Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition. |
Gould I Stephen Jay Gould The Panda’s Thumb. More Reflections in Natural History, New York 1980 German Edition: Der Daumen des Panda Frankfurt 2009 Gould II Stephen Jay Gould Hen’s Teeth and Horse’s Toes. Further Reflections in Natural History, New York 1983 German Edition: Wie das Zebra zu seinen Streifen kommt Frankfurt 1991 Gould III Stephen Jay Gould Full House. The Spread of Excellence from Plato to Darwin, New York 1996 German Edition: Illusion Fortschritt Frankfurt 2004 Gould IV Stephen Jay Gould The Flamingo’s Smile. Reflections in Natural History, New York 1985 German Edition: Das Lächeln des Flamingos Basel 1989 |
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> Counter arguments against Gould
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Ed. Martin Schulz, access date 2024-04-27