Philosophy Dictionary of ArgumentsHome
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| Progress: Progress is the forward movement towards a desired goal. It can be measured through technological advancement, social change, or personal development. See also Process, Change, Measurements, Learning, Stages of development._____________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. | |||
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Ernst Mayr on Progress - Dictionary of Arguments
I 117 Regress: e.g. towards the end of the 19th century, the theory that the "nuclein" is the genetic material in favor of the proteins was rejected. That was a mistake. E.g. the representatives of the typologically saltationist tendency (Bateson and de Vries) rejected the predominantly Darwinian concept of gradual evolution in populations. (This was also a mistake.) I 121 Science/Mayr: most of the principles and theories of today's science have been unshaken for 30, 50, or 100 years. I 259 Progress/Evolution/Mayr: is it permissible to interpret changes in the history of life as progress? This depends on the terms and the definition of progress. Neither in industry nor in the animated world there are any finalistic forces or mechanistic determinism. Progress simply results from the simple Darwinian principle of variation and selection. However, residents of niches have repeatedly experienced a seemingly backward development! >Niches, >Evolution, >Darwinism. In the history of life there is simply no reference to a universal tendency or ability for evolutionary progress. It is merely a by-product._____________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. |
Mayr I Ernst Mayr This is Biology, Cambridge/MA 1997 German Edition: Das ist Biologie Heidelberg 1998 |
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Ed. Martin Schulz, access date 2024-04-19