AMUNDSON, R; Univ. of Hawaii at Hilo: Changing the Spin: An Evo Devo Retelling of the Birth of Evolutionary Biology

Histories of science are often written by scientists (and colleagues) for the purpose of providing a historical perspective to contemporary debates. Much of the content of today�s histories of evolutionary biology was first composed in the wake of the Modern Synthesis. It emphasizes Charles Darwin�s similarities to Modern Synthesis biologists. The earlier theories and concepts that do not mesh with Synthesis evolutionary theory are described as having been scientifically regressive even in Darwin�s day. In other words, history was told in a way that best made sense to its tellers. I propose to do the same thing, but from a different perspective. Evolutionary biology in 2003 differs from traditional Modern Synthesis biology in several ways. These include the importance of phylogenetic reconstruction, and the role of ontogenetic development in the evolutionary process. Synthesis evolution theory had emphasized microevolution and population thinking, and systematics was of interest only at the species level and below. The Synthesis-inspired histories of Darwin�s day seem to show that the precursors of today�s phylogenetic researchers and Evo Devo pracitioners were scientifically regressive: either anti-evolutionary or speculatively flakey. But that was just the spin on the story. The story can be spun a very different way. Several well-known �truisms� about the history of evolutionary biology take on a new light when seen with an Evo Devo eye. Even the concept of species fixism changes its appearance in that retelling. I will briefly sketch a revisionist view of the Darwinian Revolution.