Humans, however much we would care to think otherwise, do not represent the fated pinnacle of ape evolution. The diversity of life, from single-celled organisms to multicellular animals and plants, is the result of a long, complex, and highly chancy history. But how profoundly has chance shaped life on earth? And what, precisely, do we mean by chance? Bringing together biologists, philosophers of science, and historians of science,Chance in Evolution is the first book to untangle the far-reaching effects of chance, contingency, and randomness on the evolution of life.
The book begins by placing chance in historical context, starting with the ancients and moving through Darwin and his contemporaries, documenting how the understanding of chance changed as Darwins theory of evolution by natural selection developed into the Modern Synthesis, and how the acceptance of chance in Darwinian theory affected theological resistance to it. Subsequent chapters detail the role of chance in contemporary evolutionary theoryin particular, in connection with the concepts of genetic drift, mutation, and parallel evolutionas well as recent empirical work in the experimental evolution of microbes and in paleobiology. By engaging in collaboration across biology, history, philosophy, and theology, this book offers a comprehensive and synthetic overview both of the history of chance in evolution and of our current, best understanding of the impact of chance on life on earth.
The first book to synthesize scientific and philosophical work on chance, this edited volume brings together leading biologists, philosophers of science, and historians of science, who collectively explore the role that chance playsor doesnt play, as the case may bein evolution. The first part of the volume places chance in historical context and explores how Darwin, along with his contemporaries, understood chance in addition to its related concepts; how these various concepts changed as Darwins theory of evolution by natural selection developed into the Modern Synthesis; and how the chanciness of Darwinian theory affected theological resistance to it. The second part explores the importance of chance in current evolutionary theory. The third and final part focuses on recent empirical work in microbial experimental evolution and paleobiology, with the goal of determining how much of a role chance and contingency has playedand continues to play in the history of life. The volumes final chapter investigates the perennial topic of chance in human evolution, beginning with the pre-Darwinian, theistic view that humans are at the pinnacle of the natural world and ending with the Darwinian view, which leaves no room for biological progress. It ultimately presents a more tempered view of biological progress and suggests that although our arrival on the evolutionary scene might not have been inevitable, it might not have been due to chance alone.
