Best theory & selection Quotes | Short & Famous Sayings

“anyone who writes about "Darwin's theory of evolutionin the singular, without segregating the theories of gradual evolution, common descent, speciation, and the mechanism of natural selection, will be quite unable to discuss the subject competently.”

Writing Natural Common Society Subjects Theory Evolution Mechanism Selection Natural Selection Descent Speciation

Author:Ernst Mayr

“Throughout his last half-dozen books, for example, Arthur Koestler has been conducting a campaign against his own misunderstanding of Darwinism. He hopes to find some ordering force, constraining evolution to certain directions and overriding the influence of natural selection. [...] Darwinism is not the theory of capricious change that Koestler imagines. Random variation may be the raw material of change, but natural selection builds good design by rejecting most variants while accepting and accumulating the few that improve adaptation to local environments.”

“A complete theory of evolution must acknowledge a balance between "external" forces of environment imposing selection for local adaptation and "internal" forces representing constraints of inheritance and development. Vavilov placed too much emphasis on internal constraints and downgraded the power of selection. But Western Darwinians have erred equally in practically ignoring (while acknowledging in theory) the limits placed on selection by structure and development what Vavilov and the older biologists would have called "laws of form.”

Source: Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes: Further Reflections in Natural History

“Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection is the only workable explanation that has ever been proposed for the remarkable fact of our own existence, indeed the existence of all life wherever it may turn up in the universe.”

May Facts Turns Universe Natural Existence Theory Evolution Explanation Remarkable Selection Natural Selection Theory Of Evolution

Book:The Theory of Evolution

Source: The Theory of Evolution

“Human rights are an aspect of natural law, a consequence of the way the universe works, as solid and as real as photons or the concept of pi. The idea of self- ownership is the equivalent of Pythagoras' theorem, of evolution by natural selection, of general relativity, and of quantum theory. Before humankind discovered any of these, it suffered, to varying degrees, in misery and ignorance.”

“Natural selection is a theory of local adaptation to changing environments. It proposes no perfecting principles, no guarantee of general improvement”

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Book:Ever Since Darwin: Reflections in Natural History

Source: Ever Since Darwin: Reflections in Natural History

“On the theory of natural selection we can clearly understand the full meaning of that old canon in natural history, “Natura non facit saltum.” This canon, if we look only to the present inhabitants of the world, is not strictly correct, but if we include all those of past times, it must by my theory be strictly true.”

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Book:On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection: Or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life

Source: On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection: Or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life

“If we want to sum up the theory of evolution by natural selection in two words, which have great relevance for all societies and businesses, we should simply remember: diversity works.”

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Book:The 80/20 Principle and 92 Other Powerful Laws of Nature: The Science of Success

Source: The 80/20 Principle and 92 Other Powerful Laws of Nature: The Science of Success

“Memetics provides a new approach to the evolution of language in which we apply Darwinian thinking to two replicators, not one. On this theory, memetic selection, as well as genetic selection, does the work of creating language.”

Thinking Wells Doe Two Language Theory Evolution Approach Creating Selection New Approach Evolution Of Language

Book:The Meme Machine

Source: The Meme Machine

“We have seen that in certain respects operant reinforcement resembles the natural selection of evolutionary theory. Just as genetic characteristics which arise as mutations are selected or discarded by their consequences, so novel forms of behavior are selected or discarded through reinforcement.”

Form Certain Natural Novel Theory Behavior Consequence Arise Characteristics Selection Natural Selection Selected Discarded Mutation Reinforcement

Book:Science And Human Behavior

Source: Science And Human Behavior

“The man that created the theory of evolution by natural selection was thrown out by his Dad because he wanted him to be a doctor. GAWD, parents haven't changed much.”

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Author:Charles Darwin

“Natural Selection is not Evolution. Yet, ever since the two words have been in common use, the theory of Natural Selection has been employed as a convenient abbreviation for the theory of Evolution by means of Natural Selection, put forward by Darwin and Wallace. This has had the unfortunate consequence that the theory of Natural Selection itself has scarcely ever, if ever, received separate consideration.”

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Author:Ronald Fisher

“I have spent a lot of time arguing that the theory of group selection is not the stupid, pernicious doctrine that many biologists once claimed it to be. The theory is not just conceptually coherent; there are adaptations out there in nature (like reduced virulence in some viruses) that evolved because there was group selection.”

Groups Stupid Theory Arguing Doctrine Selection Adaptation Viruses Pernicious Biologist

Author:Elliott Sober

“Group selection and individual selection are just two of the selection processes that have played important roles in evolution. There also is selection within individual organisms (intragenomic conflict), and selection among multi-species communities (an idea that now is getting attention in work on the human microbiome). All four of these levels of selection find a place in multi-level selection theory.”

Humans Two Important Ideas Individual Process Community Levels Attention Roles Four Groups Theory Evolution Conflict Species Organisms Selection

Author:Elliott Sober

“The rabid opposition to group selection has now considerably subsided. In the process, the conceptual structure of evolutionary theory has become clearer, as have the relationships that connect different theoretical approaches.”

Different Process Groups Theory Approach Structure Opposition Selection Theoretical

Author:Elliott Sober

“Evolutionary game theory was originally developed as an alternative to the hypothesis of group selection; now it is clear that game theory models postulate group selection, even if they do not use the g-word.”

Ifs Use Games Clear Groups Theory Models Alternatives Hypothesis Selection

Author:Elliott Sober

“The big picture, I think, is that common ancestry is evidentially prior to natural selection in Darwin's theory and in contemporary evolutionary biology as well.”

Thinking Wells Bigs Natural Common Theory Contemporary Biology Selection Natural Selection Ancestry Big Picture Evolutionary Biology

Author:Elliott Sober

“The theory of natural selection reduces to a banal truth: if a kind of creature flourishes in a kind of situation, then there must be something about such creatures (or about such situations, or about both) in virtue of which it does so.”

Ifs Kind Doe Natural Situation Virtue Theory Creatures Selection Natural Selection

Author:Jerry Fodor

“Trait X is fitter than trait Y in a population of organisms if those organisms have other biological traits T and live in an environment that has properties E. The theory of natural selection is filled with statements of this form.”

Ifs Form Natural Environment Theory Filled Property Population Statements Traits Organisms Selection Natural Selection

Author:Elliott Sober

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