Harvard University Press, 2007 eISBN: 978-0-674-03784-7 | Paper: 978-0-674-02444-1 Library of Congress Classification QH398.G68 2007
ABOUT THIS BOOK | REVIEWS | TOC
ABOUT THIS BOOK
In 1972 Stephen Jay Gould took the scientific world by storm with his paper on punctuated equilibrium, written with Niles Eldredge. Challenging a core assumption of Darwin's theory of evolution, it launched the career of one of the most influential evolutionary biologists of our time--perhaps the best known since Darwin.
Now, thirty-five years later, and five years after his untimely death, Punctuated Equilibrium (originally published as the central chapter of Gould's masterwork, The Structure of Evolutionary Theory) offers his only book-length testament on an idea he fiercely promoted, repeatedly refined, and tirelessly defended. Punctuated equilibrium holds that the great majority of species originate in geological moments (punctuations) and persist in stasis. The idea was hotly debated because it forced biologists to rethink entrenched ideas about evolutionary patterns and processes. But as Gould shows here in his typically exhaustive coverage, the idea has become the foundation of a new view of hierarchical selection and macroevolution.
What emerges strikingly from this book is that punctuated equilibrium represents a much broader paradigm about the nature of change--a worldview that may be judged as a distinctive and important movement within recent intellectual history. Indeed we may now be living within a punctuation, and our awareness of what this means may be the enduring legacy of one of America's best-loved scientists.
REVIEWS
In a brilliant move, Belknap Press has posthumously extracted a single chapter--number nine--from The Structure of Evolutionary Theory and published it as a stand-alone book, Punctuated Equilibrium. It's a testimony to the density of the work that a single chapter is sufficient to make a complete and thorough book on its own. The publisher has simply cut away the first 745 pages and the last 318 of the original. What's left is a text that is sharply focused on the theory for which Gould and his colleague Niles Eldredge are best known. It works beautifully...Gould documents the evidence for his controversial theory and its implications in impressive detail. The book is rich in data and dense in theory, representing a powerful summary of the arguments...Gould, in his typically immodest way, suggested that the theory of punctuated equilibrium could tell us about much more than the rate of evolution, and that it pointed to a whole new hierarchy of evolutionary phenomena. He proposed that the discipline of evolutionary biology should be expanded to accommodate new ideas that he, in part, had established. Inevitably that raised hackles. Yet critics and proponents must read his ideas. This sharp, detailed extract from his last great work offers an essential summary.
-- P. Z. Myers New Scientist
The untimely death of Stephen Jay Gould deprived the world of a superb writer and popularizer of important events and processes in biology. But Gould was also a genuinely original thinker, capable of challenging even basic tenets of Darwinian notions of evolution. This latest posthumous volume, which was the central chapter of his magnum opus, The Structure of Evolutionary Theory, argues that Darwin's theory of a steady continuum of evolutionary progress was incorrect. Rather, Gould posits, most species have originated during punctuated geologic moments, and persisted through the periods of stasis that followed. Just as, more than a century ago, quantum theory proved that in physics, things sometimes moved forward in spurts, Gould intuited that this was also true for aspects of evolutionary biology.
-- Atlantic Monthly
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
Introduction
1 What Every Paleontologist Knows
An Introductory Example
Testimonials to Common Knowledge
Darwinian Solutions and Paradoxes
The Paradox of Insulation from Disproof
The Paradox of Stymied Practice
2 The Primary Claims of Punctuated Equilibrium
Data and Definitions
Microevolutionary Links
Macroevolutionary Implications
Tempo and the Significance of Stasis
Mode and the Speciational Foundation of Macroevolution
3 The Scientific Debate on Punctuated Equilibrium: Critiques and Responses
Critiques Based on the Definability of Paleontological Species
Empirical Affirmation
Reasons for a Potential Systematic Underestimation of Biospecies by
Paleospecies
Reasons for a Potential Systematic Overestimation of Biospecies by
Paleospecies
Reasons Why an Observed Punctuational Pattern Might Not Represent
Speciation
Critiques Based on Denying Events of Speciation as the Primary Locus of Change
Critiques Based on Supposed Failures of Empirical Results to Affirm Predictions
of Punctuated Equilibrium
Claims for Empirical Refutation by Cases
Phenotypes
Genotypes
Empirical Tests of Conformity with Models
4 Sources of Data for Testing Punctuated Equilibrium
Preamble
The Equilibrium in Punctuated Equilibrium: Quantitatively Documented Patterns
of Stasis in Unbranched Segments of Lineages
The Punctuations of Punctuated Equilibrium: Tempo and Mode in the Origin of
Paleospecies
The Inference of Cladogenesis by the Criterion of Ancestral Survival
The "Dissection" of Punctuations to Infer Both Existence and Modality
Time
Geography
Morphometric Mode
Proper and Adequate Tests of Relative Frequencies: The Strong Empirical
Validation of Punctuated Equilibrium
The Indispensability of Data on Relative Frequencies
Relative Frequencies for Higher Taxa in Entire Biotas
Relative Frequencies for Entire Clades
Causal Clues from Differential Patterns of Relative Frequencies
5 The Broader Implications of Punctuated Equilibrium for Evolutionary Theory and
General Notions of Change
What Changes May Punctuated Equilibrium Instigate in Our Views about
Evolutionary Mechanisms and the History of Life?
The Explanation and Broader Meaning of Stasis
Frequency
Generality
Causality
Punctuation, the Origin of New Macroevolutionary Individuals, and
Resulting Implications for Evolutionary Theory
Trends
The Speciational Reformulation of Macroevolution
Ecological and Higher-Level Extensions
Punctuation All the Way Up and Down? The Generalization and Broader Utility
of Punctuated Equilibrium (in More Than a Metaphorical Sense) at Other Levels of
Evolution, and for Other Disciplines In and Outside the Natural Sciences
General Models for Punctuated Equilibrium
Punctuational Change at Other Levels and Scales of Evolution
A Preliminary Note on Homology and Analogy in the Conceptual
Realm
Punctuation Below the Species Level
Punctuation Above the Species Level
Punctuational Models in Other Disciplines: Towards a General Theory of
Change
Principles for a Choice of Examples
Examples from the History of Human Artifacts and Cultures
Examples from Human Institutions and Theories about the Natural
World
Two Concluding Examples, a General Statement, and a Coda
Appendix: A Largely Sociological (and Fully Partisan) History of the Impact and
Critique of Punctuated Equilibrium
The Entrance of Punctuated Equilibrium into Common Language and General
Culture
An Episodic History of Punctuated Equilibrium
Early Stages and Future Contexts
Creationist Misappropriation of Punctuated Equilibrium
Punctuated Equilibrium in Journalism and Textbooks
The Personal Aspect of Professional Reaction
The Case Ad Hominem against Punctuated Equilibrium
An Interlude on Sources of Error
The Wages of Jealousy
The Descent to Nastiness
The Most Unkindest Cut of All
The Wisdom of Agassiz's and von Baer's Threefold History of
Scientific Ideas
A Coda on the Kindness and Generosity of Most Colleagues
Notes
Bibliography
Illustration Credits
Index
Harvard University Press, 2007 eISBN: 978-0-674-03784-7 Paper: 978-0-674-02444-1
In 1972 Stephen Jay Gould took the scientific world by storm with his paper on punctuated equilibrium, written with Niles Eldredge. Challenging a core assumption of Darwin's theory of evolution, it launched the career of one of the most influential evolutionary biologists of our time--perhaps the best known since Darwin.
Now, thirty-five years later, and five years after his untimely death, Punctuated Equilibrium (originally published as the central chapter of Gould's masterwork, The Structure of Evolutionary Theory) offers his only book-length testament on an idea he fiercely promoted, repeatedly refined, and tirelessly defended. Punctuated equilibrium holds that the great majority of species originate in geological moments (punctuations) and persist in stasis. The idea was hotly debated because it forced biologists to rethink entrenched ideas about evolutionary patterns and processes. But as Gould shows here in his typically exhaustive coverage, the idea has become the foundation of a new view of hierarchical selection and macroevolution.
What emerges strikingly from this book is that punctuated equilibrium represents a much broader paradigm about the nature of change--a worldview that may be judged as a distinctive and important movement within recent intellectual history. Indeed we may now be living within a punctuation, and our awareness of what this means may be the enduring legacy of one of America's best-loved scientists.
REVIEWS
In a brilliant move, Belknap Press has posthumously extracted a single chapter--number nine--from The Structure of Evolutionary Theory and published it as a stand-alone book, Punctuated Equilibrium. It's a testimony to the density of the work that a single chapter is sufficient to make a complete and thorough book on its own. The publisher has simply cut away the first 745 pages and the last 318 of the original. What's left is a text that is sharply focused on the theory for which Gould and his colleague Niles Eldredge are best known. It works beautifully...Gould documents the evidence for his controversial theory and its implications in impressive detail. The book is rich in data and dense in theory, representing a powerful summary of the arguments...Gould, in his typically immodest way, suggested that the theory of punctuated equilibrium could tell us about much more than the rate of evolution, and that it pointed to a whole new hierarchy of evolutionary phenomena. He proposed that the discipline of evolutionary biology should be expanded to accommodate new ideas that he, in part, had established. Inevitably that raised hackles. Yet critics and proponents must read his ideas. This sharp, detailed extract from his last great work offers an essential summary.
-- P. Z. Myers New Scientist
The untimely death of Stephen Jay Gould deprived the world of a superb writer and popularizer of important events and processes in biology. But Gould was also a genuinely original thinker, capable of challenging even basic tenets of Darwinian notions of evolution. This latest posthumous volume, which was the central chapter of his magnum opus, The Structure of Evolutionary Theory, argues that Darwin's theory of a steady continuum of evolutionary progress was incorrect. Rather, Gould posits, most species have originated during punctuated geologic moments, and persisted through the periods of stasis that followed. Just as, more than a century ago, quantum theory proved that in physics, things sometimes moved forward in spurts, Gould intuited that this was also true for aspects of evolutionary biology.
-- Atlantic Monthly
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
Introduction
1 What Every Paleontologist Knows
An Introductory Example
Testimonials to Common Knowledge
Darwinian Solutions and Paradoxes
The Paradox of Insulation from Disproof
The Paradox of Stymied Practice
2 The Primary Claims of Punctuated Equilibrium
Data and Definitions
Microevolutionary Links
Macroevolutionary Implications
Tempo and the Significance of Stasis
Mode and the Speciational Foundation of Macroevolution
3 The Scientific Debate on Punctuated Equilibrium: Critiques and Responses
Critiques Based on the Definability of Paleontological Species
Empirical Affirmation
Reasons for a Potential Systematic Underestimation of Biospecies by
Paleospecies
Reasons for a Potential Systematic Overestimation of Biospecies by
Paleospecies
Reasons Why an Observed Punctuational Pattern Might Not Represent
Speciation
Critiques Based on Denying Events of Speciation as the Primary Locus of Change
Critiques Based on Supposed Failures of Empirical Results to Affirm Predictions
of Punctuated Equilibrium
Claims for Empirical Refutation by Cases
Phenotypes
Genotypes
Empirical Tests of Conformity with Models
4 Sources of Data for Testing Punctuated Equilibrium
Preamble
The Equilibrium in Punctuated Equilibrium: Quantitatively Documented Patterns
of Stasis in Unbranched Segments of Lineages
The Punctuations of Punctuated Equilibrium: Tempo and Mode in the Origin of
Paleospecies
The Inference of Cladogenesis by the Criterion of Ancestral Survival
The "Dissection" of Punctuations to Infer Both Existence and Modality
Time
Geography
Morphometric Mode
Proper and Adequate Tests of Relative Frequencies: The Strong Empirical
Validation of Punctuated Equilibrium
The Indispensability of Data on Relative Frequencies
Relative Frequencies for Higher Taxa in Entire Biotas
Relative Frequencies for Entire Clades
Causal Clues from Differential Patterns of Relative Frequencies
5 The Broader Implications of Punctuated Equilibrium for Evolutionary Theory and
General Notions of Change
What Changes May Punctuated Equilibrium Instigate in Our Views about
Evolutionary Mechanisms and the History of Life?
The Explanation and Broader Meaning of Stasis
Frequency
Generality
Causality
Punctuation, the Origin of New Macroevolutionary Individuals, and
Resulting Implications for Evolutionary Theory
Trends
The Speciational Reformulation of Macroevolution
Ecological and Higher-Level Extensions
Punctuation All the Way Up and Down? The Generalization and Broader Utility
of Punctuated Equilibrium (in More Than a Metaphorical Sense) at Other Levels of
Evolution, and for Other Disciplines In and Outside the Natural Sciences
General Models for Punctuated Equilibrium
Punctuational Change at Other Levels and Scales of Evolution
A Preliminary Note on Homology and Analogy in the Conceptual
Realm
Punctuation Below the Species Level
Punctuation Above the Species Level
Punctuational Models in Other Disciplines: Towards a General Theory of
Change
Principles for a Choice of Examples
Examples from the History of Human Artifacts and Cultures
Examples from Human Institutions and Theories about the Natural
World
Two Concluding Examples, a General Statement, and a Coda
Appendix: A Largely Sociological (and Fully Partisan) History of the Impact and
Critique of Punctuated Equilibrium
The Entrance of Punctuated Equilibrium into Common Language and General
Culture
An Episodic History of Punctuated Equilibrium
Early Stages and Future Contexts
Creationist Misappropriation of Punctuated Equilibrium
Punctuated Equilibrium in Journalism and Textbooks
The Personal Aspect of Professional Reaction
The Case Ad Hominem against Punctuated Equilibrium
An Interlude on Sources of Error
The Wages of Jealousy
The Descent to Nastiness
The Most Unkindest Cut of All
The Wisdom of Agassiz's and von Baer's Threefold History of
Scientific Ideas
A Coda on the Kindness and Generosity of Most Colleagues
Notes
Bibliography
Illustration Credits
Index
