History and philosophy of panbiogeography

[John Grehan]

The examples given by Richard Zander that give portray orthogenesis in
terms of teolology, linearity, or essentialism represent a particular
and quite widely repeated view, but its not historically accurate in
terms of the original meaning and use of the term. I wrote a paper on
the subject about 20 years ago in Systematic Zoology. I will outline
some of the points tomorrow.

John

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Taxacom Discussion List [mailto:TAXACOM at LISTSERV.NHM.KU.EDU] On
> Behalf Of Richard.Zander at MOBOT.ORG
> Sent: Wednesday, May 18, 2005 5:08 PM
> To: TAXACOM at LISTSERV.NHM.KU.EDU
> Subject: Re: [TAXACOM] History and philosophy of panbiogeography
> 
> The Web dictionaries say:
> n. (belief that) biological variation results in new species, always
along
> same path; belief that the development of civilization always proceeds
in
> same way.
> 
> Also Wikipedia says, more trenchantly:
> 
> Orthogenesis, orthogenetic evolution or autogenesis, is the hypothesis
> that
> life has an innate tendency to move, in a unilinear fashion, to ever
> greater
> perfection. The hypothesis is based on Essentialism, finalism and
cosmic
> teleology and proposes an intrinsic drive which slowly transforms
species.
> George Gaylord Simpson (1953) in an attack on orthogenesis called this
> mechanism "the mysterious inner force". Proponents of orthogenesis
> rejected
> the theory of natural selection as the organising mechanism in
evolution,
> and theories of speciation for a rectilinear model of guided evolution
> acting on discrete species with "essences". The term orthogenesis was
> popularised by Theodor Eimer, though many of the ideas are much older
> (Bateson 1909).
> The orthogenesis hypothesis had a significant following in the 19th
> century
> when a number of evolutionary mechanisms, such as Lamarckism, were
being
> proposed. Lamarck himself accepted the idea, and it had a central role
in
> his theory of inheritance of acquired characteristics, the
hypothesised
> mechanism of which resembled the "mysterious inner force" of
orthogenesis.
> Other proponents of orthogenesis included Leo Berg, philosopher Henri
> Bergson and, for a time, the paleontologist Henry Fairfield Osborn.
> Orthogenesis was particularly accepted by paleontologists who saw in
their
> fossils a directional change, and in invertebrate paleontology thought
> there
> was a gradual and constant directional change. Those who accepted
> orthogenesis in this way, however, did not necessarily accept that the
> mechanism that drove orthogenesis was teleological.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ______________________
> Richard H. Zander
> Bryology Group, Missouri Botanical Garden
> PO Box 299, St. Louis, MO 63166-0299 USA
> richard.zander at mobot.org <mailto:richard.zander at mobot.org>
> Voice: 314-577-5180;  Fax: 314-577-9595
> Websites
> Bryophyte Volumes of Flora of North America:
> http://www.mobot.org/plantscience/bfna/bfnamenu.htm
> Res Botanica:
> http://www.mobot.org/plantscience/resbot/index.htm
> Shipping address for UPS, etc.:
> Missouri Botanical Garden
> 4344 Shaw Blvd.
> St. Louis, MO 63110 USA
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Steve Manning [mailto:sdmanning at ASUB.EDU]
> Sent: Wednesday, May 18, 2005 3:49 PM
> To: TAXACOM at LISTSERV.NHM.KU.EDU
> Subject: Re: [TAXACOM] History and philosophy of panbiogeography
> >7. Orthogenetic development (phylogenetic constraint by molecular
drive)
> >is of primary importance in evolution.
> 
> Can you be more specific as to what this really means (relatively
> briefly)?  I have often thought that actually evolution is just one
> energy-driven manifestation of the second law of thermodynamics.  This
> sounds like a similar concept.