What Darwin Got Wrong

Contents......Page 9
Detailed Contents......Page 10
Acknowledgements......Page 14
Terms of engagement......Page 15
Introduction......Page 25
Natural selection considered as a black box......Page 27
Operant conditioning theory considered as a black box......Page 28
Proprietary constraints (1): iterativity......Page 29
Proprietary constraints (2): environmentalism......Page 30
Proprietary constraints (3): gradualism......Page 31
Proprietary constraints (4): monotonicity......Page 33
Proprietary constraints (5): locality......Page 34
Proprietary constraints (6): mindlessness......Page 35
Thinking inside the boxes......Page 37
The mechanism of learning according to operant conditioning theory......Page 38
The mechanism of selection according to evolutionary theory......Page 39
I / THE BIOLOGICAL ARGUMENT......Page 41
2. Internal constraints: what the new biology tells us......Page 43
Natural selection is real, of course (when properly construed)......Page 44
Unidimensionality......Page 46
Beanbag genetics......Page 49
Internal constraints and filters: \'evo-devo\'......Page 51
Some (undue) perplexities about the evo-devo revolution......Page 54
Summary on the lessons from evo-devo......Page 55
Much more of much the same......Page 56
Chaperones......Page 59
Alternative splicing......Page 60
Last but not least: molecular drive and biased gene conversion......Page 61
Conclusion to this chapter......Page 63
Gene regulatory networks......Page 64
Entrenchment......Page 65
Robustness......Page 66
Master genes are \'masters\'......Page 68
Developmental modules......Page 70
Coordination......Page 73
Morphogenetic explosions......Page 74
Plasticity and the (non)transitivity of fitness......Page 76
Conclusions and a caveat......Page 78
Selection without adaptation......Page 81
Bacteria, sugars and dead ends......Page 84
Some lessons from this paradigmatic ultra-simple case......Page 86
New kinds of environments......Page 88
Epigenetics and imprinting......Page 89
Jumping genes and \'horizontal\' gene transfer......Page 91
Interchangeability between reactions to external and internal perturbations......Page 93
Conclusions for this chapter......Page 95
5. The return of the laws of form......Page 96
A little bit of history......Page 99
The \'fourth dimension\' of living systems......Page 102
Non-genomic nativism......Page 104
The brain\'s grey and white matter......Page 105
Invariants of animal locomotion......Page 106
The perfect leaves......Page 107
Optimal foraging strategies: the honeybees......Page 108
The perfect wing stroke......Page 110
The zombifying wasp......Page 113
Some evolutionary questions......Page 114
A lot of tunnel at the end of the light......Page 115
Wrap-up of this chapter......Page 116
II / THE CONCEPTUAL SITUATION......Page 117
6. Many are called but few are chosen: the problem of \'selection-for\'......Page 119
\'Free-riders\'......Page 120
Avatars of the \'selection-for\' problem: teleology......Page 124
Avatars of the \'selection-for\' problem continued: \'What is learned?\' (the problem of the \'effective stimulus\')......Page 125
Avatars of the \'selection-for\' problem continued: \'What is learned?\' (the \'effective response\')......Page 128
Avatars of the \'selection-for\' problem continued: the naturalization of content......Page 130
Interim summary and prospectus......Page 133
Where do \'selection-for\' problems come from?......Page 134
Yes, but what does all this stuff have to do with whether or not natural selection is the mechanism of the evolution of phenotypes?......Page 135
7. No exit? Some responses to the problem of \'selection-for\'......Page 141
Recapitulation in brief......Page 139
First option: give Mother Nature a chance......Page 143
Second option: laws of selection......Page 146
The fallacy of the Swiss apple......Page 147
Third option: Sober\'s sieve......Page 151
Fourth option: maybe adaptationism is not a theory after all;\rmaybe it is just a theory schema......Page 155
Then what kind of theory is the theory of natural selection?......Page 156
Rhetorical conclusion......Page 159
8. Did the dodo lose its ecological niche? Or was it the other way around?......Page 163
The exquisite fit......Page 165
Environment versus ecological niche......Page 167
Appendix......Page 177
Notes......Page 189
References......Page 205
Index......Page 249