Saturday, May 26, 2007

Stephen Jay Gould, Punctuated Equilibrium. Belknap Press, 2007

P. Z. Myers su Pharyngula segnala la sua positiva recensione del libro di Stephen Jay Gould dal titolo Punctuated Equilibrium. Una preview è pubblicata sulla rivista New Scientist (gli abbonati potranno leggere tutto l'articolo), fascicolo 2603, 12 maggio 2007.

Per una ricognizione del pensiero di Gould sull'argomento potete partire dall'articolo completo di Eldredge e Gould Punctuated equilibria: an alternative to phyletic gradualism, pp. 82-115 pubblicato nel 1972 in Models in paleobiology. Schopf, TJM Freeman, Cooper & Co, San Francisco.

Recensioni e commenti:
Intervista di Doug Brown, (Powells.com) a Gould: Stephen Jay Gould, From Brachiopods to Baseball
La voce enciclopedica pubblicata su Wikipedia
Punctuated Equilibrium's Threefold History. Un breve capitolo di Gould proveniente da The Structure of Evolutionary Theory, Cambridge. Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2002, pp. 1006-1021.
da The Scientist, a cura di Melissa Lee Phillips Genetic evidence for punctuated equilibrium. Phylogenetic trees reveal traces of rapid evolution at speciation, a new study says
Sparzani Antonio e Boccali Giuliano. Le virtù dell’inerzia, Bollati Boringhieri, pp. 368, 2006, collana Nuova Cultura. Il libro affronta il tema dell’inerzia da molti punti di vista: dalla letteratura alla psicologia, alla religione. A noi preme segnalare il contributo di Marco Ferraguti, Professore di Evoluzione Biologica all’Università degli Studi di Milano che tratta l’argomento a noi tutti molto caro degli equilibri punteggiati. Il capitolo, alle pp. 145-197, si intitola:
Gli equilibri punteggiati: inerzia delle specie?…questi sono gli argomenti trattati nel saggio:
1. Esistono le specie ?
2. La sintesi moderna
3. Definizioni biologiche di specie
4. Anagenesi
5. Cladogenesi
6. Gli equilibri punteggiati
7. La stasi
8. Se le specie esistono, allora competono!
10. Chiusa ?

Segnaliamo la tesi integrale, pubblicata su Pikaia, di Vera Lelli dal titolo:
GLI EQUILIBRI PUNTEGGIATI E IL MARXISMO: STORIA DI UN FRAINTENDIMENTO
Relatore Prof. Dietelmo Pievani. UNIVERSITA’ DEGLI STUDI MILANO-BICOCCA, FACOLTA’ DI SCIENZE DELLA FORMAZIONE, CORSO DI LAUREA TRIENNALE IN SCIENZE DELL’EDUCAZIONE. INDIRIZZO: ESPERTI IN PROCESSI FORMATIVI, ANNO ACCADEMICO 2003/2004

Intervista ad Eldredge, NON SOLO DARWIN, pubblicata su Emmeciquadro

Infine eccovi il sommario del libro appena pubblicato dalla Harvard University Press:
Introduction
1. What Every Paleontologist Knows
An Introductory ExampleTestimonials 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 RealmPunctuation 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 AllThe Wisdom of Agassiz's and von Baer's Threefold History of Scientific Ideas
A Coda on the Kindness and Generosity of Most Colleagues

Paolo Coccia

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