Children of time: the extended synthesis and major metaphors of evolution

R. Brooks, DanielJ. Agosta, Salvatore

It is time for an expansion and enrichment of evolutionary theory. The "back to the future" proposal contained herein is based on three postulates: 1) Neo-Darwinism is too impoverished for this task; 2) its predecessor, Darwinism, contained the necessary breadth of vision and metaphor to be the basis for an inclusive and unifying theory of biology; and 3) the necessary framework for this new stage in the evolution of evolutionary theory is largely in place. We make our case through the use of a number of metaphorical dualisms designed to help focus discussions toward a more cooperative and productive approach to the study of living systems. Along the way, we suggest a number of self-induced paradoxes in neo-Darwinian accounts of evolution that are resolved by our perspective.

1. information
2. nature of the conditions
3. self-organization
4. time, sequency
5. cooperation
6. metaphors
7. function
8. cohesion
9. space
10. ecological hierarchy
11. metabolism
12. genealogical hierarchy
13. evolutionary transitions
14. nature of the organism
15. simultaneity
16. complexity
17. thermodynamics
18. Darwinism
19. compensatory changes
20. extended synthesis
21. division of labor
22. history