Darwin and the popularization of evolution

2009 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernard Lightman
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Evolutionary Perspective ◽  
Intellectual Elite ◽  
The Usa

Evolution was popularized from 1860 to 1900 in the USA and Britain in a wide variety of media. Here I investigate traditional texts associated with the intellectual elite, including philosophical or scientific monographs, sermons, and published lectures. Evolution was rarely popularized in ways that reflected Darwin's major contribution to biology, his theory of natural selection. This meant that the reading audience more often encountered an alternative to Darwin's naturalistic, non-directional and non-progressive evolutionary perspective. There were at least four different versions of evolution circulating in the period from 1860 to 1900, and only one conformed to Darwin's vision.

What is the Evolutionary Advantage of Migraine?

Cephalalgia ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 22 (8) ◽  
pp. 624-632 ◽  
Author(s):  
E Loder
Keyword(s):  
Nervous System ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Genetic Factors ◽  
Evolutionary Perspective ◽  
Defence Mechanism ◽  
Design Constraint ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Evolutionary Advantage ◽  
Evolutionary Explanations

Susceptibility to migraine is determined by genetic factors and is therefore subject to the forces of natural selection. Migraine is a common and ancient disorder whose prevalence may be increasing, suggesting that a migraine-prone nervous system may be associated with reproductive or survival advantages. Five evolutionary explanations are reviewed that might account for the persistence of migraine: (i) migraine as a defence mechanism; (ii) migraine as a result of conflict with other organisms; (iii) migraine as result of novel environmental factors; (iv) migraine as a trade-off between genetic harms and benefits; and (v) migraine as a design constraint. An evolutionary perspective on migraine allows the generation of important hypotheses about the disorder and suggests rewarding possibilities for further research.

scholarly journals Innovation from a Memetic and Evolutionary Perspective

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-15
Author(s):  
Andrej Drapal
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Evolutionary Perspective ◽  
Human Culture ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Fundamental Mechanism

Innovation happens all around the Universe and is a fundamental mechanism of evolution. Living creatures cannot but exist and develop through innovation. Innovation happens through mutations that make sense in retrospect only. Natural selection makes certain mutations as beneficial and other as something that was already forgotten. As much as genes serve as quantized smaller units where innovation takes place in physical bodies, memes serve as basic quantized units of human culture. Memes as second replicators to genes obey similar laws of evolution and thus innovation as genes. Innovation can be propagated only by removing obstacles on one side and by allowing mutations to emerge as long as they do not destroy identity.

Spencer, Herbert (1820–1903)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim S. Gray
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Evolutionary Theory ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Human Society ◽  
Herbert Spencer ◽  
The World ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Late Nineteenth

Herbert Spencer is chiefly remembered for his classical liberalism and his evolutionary theory. His fame was considerable during the mid- to late-nineteenth century, especially in the USA, which he visited in 1882 to be lionized by New York society as the prophetic philosopher of capitalism. In Britain, however, Spencer’s reputation suffered two fatal blows towards the end of his life. First, collectivist legislation was introduced to protect citizens from the ravages of the industrial revolution, and Spencer’s spirited defence of economic laissez-faire became discredited. Second, his evolutionary theory, which was based largely on the Lamarckian principle of the inheritance of organic modifications produced by use and disuse, was superseded by Darwin’s theory of natural selection. Nearly a century after his death, however, there is renewed interest in his ideas, partly because the world has become more sympathetic to market philosophies, and partly because the application of evolutionary principles to human society has become fashionable once more.

An evolutionary perspective on gastrointestinal nematodes of sheep

2011 ◽  
Vol 85 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.J. Stear ◽  
D. Singleton ◽  
L. Matthews
Keyword(s):  
Immune System ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Fundamental Theorem ◽  
Domestic Animals ◽  
Gastrointestinal Nematodes ◽  
Arms Race ◽  
Evolutionary Perspective ◽  
Host Parasite Relationship ◽  
Parasite Relationship ◽  
Host Parasite

AbstractThe purpose of this paper was to discuss from an evolutionary perspective the interaction between domestic sheep (Ovis aries)and their gastrointestinal nematodes. Although evolution is the central theme of biology, there has been little attempt to consider how evolutionary forces have shaped and continue to shape the relationships between domestic animals and their parasite community. Mathematical modelling of the host–parasite relationship indicated that the system is remarkably robust to perturbations in its parameters. This robustness may be a consequence of the long coevolution of host and parasites. Although nematodes can potentially evolve faster than the host, coevolution is not dominated by the parasite and there are several examples where breeds of cattle or sheep have evolved high levels of resistance to disease. Coevolution is a more equal partnership between host and nematode than is commonly assumed. Coevolution between parasites and the host immune system is often described as an arms race where both host immune response genes and parasite proteins evolve rapidly in response to each other. However, initial results indicate that nematode antigens are not evolving rapidly; the arms race between the immune system and nematodes, if it exists, is happening very slowly. Fisher's fundamental theorem of natural selection states that genes with positive effects on fitness will be fixed by natural selection. Consequently, heritable variation in fitness traits is expected to be low. Contrary to this argument, there is considerable genetic variation in resistance to nematode infection. In particular, the heritabilities of nematode-specific IgA and IgE activity are moderate to high. The reasons for this apparent violation of the fundamental theorem of natural selection are not clear but several possible explanations are explored. Faecal nematode egg counts increase at the beginning of the grazing season – a phenomenon known as the periparturient rise. This increase benefits host and parasite and appears to be a consequence of coevolution. In conclusion, an evolutionary perspective can shed light on many aspects of the host–parasite relationship in domestic animals.

scholarly journals An evolutionary perspective on zinc uptake by human fungal pathogens

Metallomics ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 979-985 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duncan Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Fungal Pathogens ◽  
Soil Acidity ◽  
Zinc Uptake ◽  
Evolutionary Perspective ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Endemic Mycoses

A link between environmental pH and fungal zinc uptake strategies? Soil acidity and endemic mycoses in the USA.

Evolution and (aristotelian) virtue ethics

Human Affairs ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-206
Author(s):  
John Mizzoni
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Virtue Ethics ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
Bernard Williams ◽  
Evolutionary Perspective ◽  
Human Origins ◽  
Michael Ruse ◽  
Ethical Thought ◽  
Jonathan Haidt

Abstract It is well known that virtue ethics has become very popular among moral theorists. Even Aristotelian virtue ethics continues to have defenders. Bernard Williams (1983; 1995, p. xy), though, has claimed that this “neo-Aristotelian enterprise” might “require us tofeign amnesia about natural selection.” This paper looks at some recent work on virtueethics as seen from an evolutionary perspective (Michael Ruse, 1991; William Casebeer, 2003; Donald J. Munro, 2005; John Lemos, 2008; Jonathan Haidt & Craig Joseph, 2008) and explores whether Williams’ evolutionary challenge can be met. Against Williams’ challenge, I argue that “the first and hardest lesson of Darwinism,” as Williams calls it, has indeed found “its way fully into ethical thought” (Williams, 1983, p. xy). And virtue ethics—in several varieties, not only Aristotelian—fits it rather well with anevolutionary perspective on human origins.

scholarly journals Inter-Molecular Electrostatic Interactions Stabilizing the Structure of the PD-1/PD-L1 Axis: A Structural Evolutionary Perspective

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Li
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Tumor Cell ◽  
Tumor Immunity ◽  
Electrostatic Interactions ◽  
Immune Escape ◽  
Complex Structure ◽  
Evolutionary Perspective ◽  
Binding Interface ◽  
First Time ◽  
Structural Hypothesis

PD-1/PD-L1 axis is one key therapeutic target against tumor cell immune escape. Structurally essential to the PD-1/PD-L1-linked immune escape is the binding interface of the PD-1/PD-L1 complex structure. Incorporating currently available PD-1/PD-L1-related experimental structures, this article unveils two sets of experimentally observed inter-molecular electrostatic interactions which stabilize the binding interface of the PD-1/PD-L1 complex structure. For the first time, this article proposes an evolutionary structural hypothesis that, as a result of natural selection, PD-1 is able to genetically mutate itself to structurally disrupt the PD-1/PD-L1 axis towards the restoration of T cell-mediated anti-tumor immunity.

Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-3
Author(s):  
Michael Numan
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Maternal Behavior ◽  
Parental Behavior ◽  
Evolutionary Perspective ◽  
Parental Cognitions ◽  
Caregiving System ◽  
Intergenerational Continuity ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Parental Brain

The introduction provides a brief overview of the book, describing its three major themes: (a) the mechanisms through which the brain regulates parental behavior in nonhuman mammals and parental cognitions, emotions, and behavior in humans; (b) the experiential and genetic factors that affect the development of the parental brain, with a focus on the intergenerational continuity of normal and abnormal parental behavior; and (c) an evolutionary perspective based on the fact that maternal behavior is the most basic mammalian caregiving system. It is proposed that the parental brain served as a foundation upon which natural selection acted to result in the evolution of other forms of strong prosocial behaviors in mammals, including humans.

Evolutionary Psychology of Resilience

2019 ◽  
pp. 94-104
Author(s):  
Glenn Geher ◽  
Nicole Wedberg
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Positive Psychology ◽  
Evolutionary Psychology ◽  
Environmental Stressors ◽  
Evolutionary Perspective ◽  
Stress Reactions ◽  
Basic Part ◽  
Difficult Situations

Dealing with environmental stressors is a basic part of life for any organism. Positive psychology focuses largely on the topic of resilience and how people can move past difficult situations and interactions. The evolutionary perspective has much to offer in terms of the topic of resilience. This chapter describes resilience and stress reactions from an evolutionary perspective. Further, this chapter uses the concept of natural selection as a model for how failures are to be expected and how success in any domain for any organism owes largely to a long string of failures. This model is used to help provide evolution-based guidance on the topic of moving forward after setbacks and developing a resilient approach to life.

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