APPENDIX Z6: Modern Evolutionary Synthesis

DAVID BIRNBAUM SUMMA METAPHYSICA

DAVID BIRNBAUM PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE

APPENDIX Z6:

Modern Evolutionary Synthesis*a
The modern evolutionary synthesis is a union of ideas from several biological specialties which provides a widely accepted account of evolution. It is also referred to as the new synthesis, the modern synthesis, the evolutionary synthesis, millennium synthesis and the neo-darwinian synthesis.

Some key points are –

• Evolution is gradual: small genetic changes regulated
by natural selection accumulate over long periods.

• Natural selection*b is by far the main mechanism of
change; even slight advantages are important when
continued.

*a Wikipedia Online, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_evolutionary_synthesis
(accessed February 6, 2012)

*b No scientific community consensus as of May 2012 as regards the precise modality
of selection

from the author –

What is the actual modality of Natural Selection?

Is it perhaps Quest for Potential∞ continuously super-selecting from a plethora of mutations served-up by nature ongoing over the millennia?

DAVID BIRNBAUM PHILOSOPHER

DAVID BIRNBAUM METAPHYSIST