On the structure of theoretical evolutionary space in relation to biological laws
Gregorcic, A.; Jerman, I.
Rivista di Biologia 102(3): 323-345
2009
ISSN/ISBN: 0035-6050 PMID: 20533184 Document Number: 633888
According to neo-Darwinian evolutionary theory, the dominant causal role in biological evolution is played by historical contingencies, both at the level of spontaneous variation and at the level of limited environmental resources. The natural selection, as well as evolution based on it, are thus supposed to be of essentially historical nature. The omnipresence of biological convergences challenges this view. We propose that law-like universal constraints on internal organismic organization as well as on their environment, originating from universal characteristics of nonlinear and complex dynamical systems, may confer some of the observed regularity and repeatability of evolutionary patterns. The testing of this general hypothesis requires the development of a new field of theoretical and empirical research procedures.