View source for Neo-Darwinism

{{Short description|Used to describe the combination of natural selection and genetics}}
[[File:L. I. Gardner, Molecular genetics... Wellcome L0000560.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Friedrich Leopold August Weismann]], considered the "founder of Neo-Darwinism" for expanding Darwin's theory along genetic lines]]
[[File:George John Romanes, photograph by Elliott & Fry.jpg|thumb|upright|[[George John Romanes]] originally used ''Neo-Darwinism'' in 1895 to refer to an early modification of Darwin's theory. Photograph by Elliott & Fry (1896)]]

'''Neo-Darwinism''' is generally used to describe any integration of [[Charles Darwin]]'s theory of [[evolution]] by [[natural selection]] with [[Gregor Mendel]]'s theory of [[genetics]]. It mostly refers to evolutionary theory from either 1895 (for the combinations of Darwin's and [[August Weismann]]'s theories of evolution) or 1942 ("[[modern synthesis (20th century)|modern synthesis]]"), but it can mean any new Darwinian- and Mendelian-based theory, such as the current evolutionary theory.

==Original use==
[[File:Modern Synthesis.svg|thumb|upright=1.75|Several major ideas about [[evolution]] came together in the [[population genetics]] of the early 20th century to form the so-called [[Modern synthesis (20th century)|modern synthesis]], including [[genetic variation]], [[natural selection]], and particulate ([[Mendelian genetics|Mendelian]]) inheritance. This was at the time called neo-Darwinism.]]
[[Darwinism|Darwin's theory of evolution]] by natural selection, as published in 1859, provided a selection mechanism for evolution, but not a trait transfer mechanism. [[Lamarckism]] was still a very popular candidate for this. [[August Weismann]] and [[Alfred Russel Wallace]] rejected the Lamarckian idea of [[inheritance of acquired characteristics]] that Darwin had accepted and later expanded upon in [[The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication|his writings on heredity]].<ref name=Darwin1872/>{{rp|page=[http://darwin-online.org.uk/Variorum/1872/1872-108-dns.html 108]}}<ref name=Darwin1868/><ref name="Kutschera1"/> The basis for the complete rejection of Lamarckism was Weismann's [[germ plasm]] theory. Weismann realised that the cells that produce the germ plasm, or [[gamete]]s (such as [[sperm]] and [[Egg cell|eggs]] in [[animal]]s), separate from the [[Somatic (biology)|somatic]] cells that go on to make other body tissues at an early stage in development. Since he could see no obvious means of communication between the two, he asserted that the inheritance of acquired characteristics was therefore impossible; a conclusion now known as the [[Weismann barrier]].<ref name="Barbieri"/>

It is, however, usually [[George Romanes]] who is credited with the first use of the word in a scientific context. Romanes used the term to describe the combination of [[natural selection]] and Weismann's germ plasm theory that evolution occurs solely through natural selection, and not by the inheritance of acquired characteristics resulting from use or disuse, thus using the word to mean "Darwinism without Lamarckism."<ref name="Gould1"/><ref name = "wallacefund1"/><ref name="Reif"/>

Following the development, from about 1918 to 1947, of the [[Modern synthesis (20th century)|modern synthesis]] of [[evolutionary biology]], the term neo-Darwinian started to be used to refer to that contemporary evolutionary theory.<ref name="talkorigins1"/><ref name = "Walter1"/>

==Current meaning==
Biologists, however, have not limited their application of the term ''neo-Darwinism'' to the historical synthesis. For example, [[Ernst Mayr]] wrote in 1984 that:
:The term ''neo-Darwinism'' for the synthetic theory [of the early 20th&nbsp;century] is sometimes considered wrong, because the term neo-Darwinism was coined by Romanes in 1895 as a designation of Weismann's theory.<ref name="Mayr"/><ref name="Kutschera"/><ref name="Reif"/><ref name="Pigliucci2007"/>

Publications such as ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'' use ''neo-Darwinism'' to refer to current-consensus evolutionary theory, not the version prevalent during the early 20th&nbsp;century.<ref name="britannica1"/> Similarly, [[Richard Dawkins]] and [[Stephen Jay Gould]] have used ''neo-Darwinism'' in their writings and lectures to denote the forms of evolutionary biology that were contemporary when they were writing.<ref name="YouTube1"/><ref name="Gould2"/>

== See also ==

* [[History of evolutionary thought]]{{-}}

==References==
{{Reflist|25em|refs=

<!-- not used <ref name = "Butler1880"> {{cite book |last1=Butler |first1=Samuel |author-link1=Samuel Butler (novelist) |title=Unconscious Memory |year=1880 |publisher=David Bogue |page=[https://archive.org/details/unconsciousmemo00hartgoog/page/n291 280] |url=https://archive.org/details/unconsciousmemo00hartgoog |quote=I may predict with some certainty that before long we shall find the original Darwinism of Dr.&nbsp;[[Erasmus Darwin]] ... generally accepted instead of the neo-Darwinism of to-day, and that the variations whose accumulation results in species will be recognised as due to the wants and endeavours of the living forms in which they appear, instead of being ascribed to chance, or, in other words, to unknown causes, as by Mr.&nbsp;Charles Darwin's system}}</ref> -->

<ref name = "wallacefund1">{{cite web |url=https://wallacefund.myspecies.info/terms-darwinism-and-neo-darwinism |title=On the terms "Darwinism" and "Neo-Darwinism" |last=Beccaloni |first=George |date=2013 |website=A. R. Wallace Website}}</ref>

<ref name = "Gould1">{{cite book |last=Gould |first=Stephen Jay |author-link=Stephen Jay Gould |year=2002 |page=216 |title=The Structure of Evolutionary Theory |title-link=The Structure of Evolutionary Theory |place=Cambridge, MA |publisher=Belknap Press of [[Harvard University Press]] |isbn=978-0-674-00613-3 |lccn=2001043556 |oclc=47869352}}</ref>

<ref name="Gould2">{{cite book |last=Gould |first=Stephen Jay |year=2011 |chapter=Challenges to Neo-Darwinism and Their Meaning for a Revised View of Human Consciousness |editor-last=McMurrin |editor-first=Sterling M. |editor-link=Sterling M. McMurrin |title=The Tanner Lectures on Human Values |volume=6 |location=Salt Lake City, UT; Cambridge, UK |publisher=[[University of Utah Press]]; [[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0-521-17647-7 |oclc=846869183 |pages=[http://tannerlectures.utah.edu/_documents/a-to-z/g/gould85.pdf 53–73]}} "Lecture delivered at [[Clare Hall, Cambridge|Clare Hall, Cambridge University]] April 30 and May 1, 1984"</ref>

<ref name =Darwin1868>{{cite book |last=Darwin |first=Charles |author-link=Charles Darwin |year=1868 |title=The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication |edition=1st |location=London, UK |publisher=John Murray |url=http://darwin-online.org.uk/EditorialIntroductions/Freeman_VariationunderDomestication.html}}</ref>

<ref name=Darwin1872>{{cite book |last=Darwin |first=Charles |author-link=Charles Darwin |year=1872 |title=The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life |edition=6th |location=London |publisher=[[John Murray (publishing house)|John Murray]] |oclc=1185571 |title-link=On the Origin of Species}}</ref>

<ref name="Kutschera1">{{cite journal |last=Kutschera |first=Ulrich |date=December 2003 |title=A comparative analysis of the Darwin-Wallace papers and the development of the concept of natural selection |journal=Theory in Biosciences |volume=122 |issue=4 |pages=343–359 |doi=10.1007/s12064-003-0063-6 |s2cid=24297627 |issn=1431-7613}}</ref>

<ref name="Reif">{{cite journal |last1=Reif |first1=Wolf-Ernst |author-link1=:de:Wolf-Ernst Reif |last2=Junker |first2=Thomas |author-link2=:de:Thomas Junker |last3=Hoßfeld |first3=Uwe |author-link3=:de:Uwe Hoßfeld |date=March 2000 |title=The synthetic theory of evolution: general problems and the German contribution to the synthesis |journal=Theory in Biosciences |volume=119 |issue=1 |pages=41–91 |doi=10.1007/s12064-000-0004-6 |issn=1431-7613|url=http://www.thomas-junker.homepage.t-online.de/pdf/00rjhtb.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.thomas-junker.homepage.t-online.de/pdf/00rjhtb.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |citeseerx=10.1.1.329.7230 |s2cid=4893208 }}</ref>

<ref name = "Barbieri">{{cite journal |last=Barbieri |first=Francisco D. |year=1989 |title=The origin of Metazoa and Weismann's germ line theory |journal=Rivista di Biologia |volume=82 |issue=1 |pages=61–74 |issn=0035-6050 |pmid=2665023}}</ref>

<ref name = "talkorigins1">{{cite web |url=http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/modern-synthesis.html |title=The Modern Synthesis of Genetics and Evolution |date=January 22, 1993 |last=Moran |first=Laurance |website=TalkOrigins Archive |publisher=The TalkOrigins Foundation, Inc. |location=Houston, TX |access-date=2007-09-19}}</ref>

<ref name = "Walter1">{{cite journal |last=Bock |first=Walter J. |date=July 1981 |title=Reviewed Work: ''The Evolutionary Synthesis. Perspectives on the Unification of Biology'' |journal=[[The Auk]] |volume=98 |issue=3 |pages=644–646 |issn=0004-8038 |jstor=4086148}}</ref>

<ref name="Mayr">{{cite journal |last=Mayr |first=Ernst |author-link=Ernst Mayr |year=1984 |title=What is Darwinism Today? |journal=PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association |volume=1984 |issue=2 |pages=145–156 |issn=0270-8647 |jstor=192502|doi=10.1086/psaprocbienmeetp.1984.2.192502 |s2cid=147090072 }} Volume Two: Symposia and Invited Papers (1984).</ref>

<ref name="Pigliucci2007">{{cite journal |last=Pigliucci |first=Massimo |author-link=Massimo Pigliucci |date=December 2007 |title=Do We Need An Extended Evolutionary Synthesis? |journal=[[Evolution (journal)|Evolution]] |volume=61 |issue=12 |pages=2743–2749 |doi=10.1111/j.1558-5646.2007.00246.x |pmid=17924956 |s2cid=2703146 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

<ref name="britannica1">{{cite encyclopedia |title=neo-Darwinism |url=http://www.britannica.com/science/neo-Darwinism |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |year=2015 |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]] |location=Chicago, IL |access-date=2015-11-19}}</ref>

<ref name="YouTube1">{{YouTube|id=kYCVmXVp_rk|title="Neo-Darwinism Lecture by Richard Dawkins"}}. The video of the lecture was originally posted on May 5, 2010, at old.richarddawkins.net: {{cite web |url=http://old.richarddawkins.net/videos/1345-lecture-on-neo-darwinism |title=Lecture on Neo-Darwinism |access-date=2013-07-07 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141201082744/http://old.richarddawkins.net/videos/1345-lecture-on-neo-darwinism |archive-date=December 1, 2014 }}.</ref>

<ref name="Kutschera">{{cite journal |last1=Kutschera |first1=Ulrich |author-link1=Ulrich Kutschera |last2=Niklas |first2=Karl J. |author-link2=Karl J. Niklas |date=June 2004 |title=The modern theory of biological evolution: an expanded synthesis |journal=[[Naturwissenschaften]] |volume=91 |issue=6 |pages=255–276 |bibcode=2004NW.....91..255K |doi=10.1007/s00114-004-0515-y |pmid=15241603|s2cid=10731711 }}</ref>

}}

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[[Category:Evolutionary biology]]