Volume 39, Number 9 · May 14, 1992
Taking a Chance on Evolution
By John Maynard Smith
Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History
by Stephen Jay Gould
Norton, 347 pp., $10.95 (paper)
Bully for Brontosaurus: Reflections in Natural History
by Stephen Jay Gould
Norton, 540 pp., $10.95 (paper)
Toward a New Philosophy of Biology: Observations of an Evolutionist
by Ernst Mayr
Harvard, 564 pp., $14.95 (paper)
Although very different in style and content, the last two books by Stephen Jay Gould—Wonderful Life and Bully for Brontosaurus—and Ernst Mayr's Toward a New Philosophy of Biology are ultimately about the same questions. Is evolutionary biology a science? If so, what kind of a science is it? Mayr's book is a collection of essays, published over the past thirty years, and addressed both to biologists and philosophers. His aim is to clarify the concepts that underlie evolutionary biology. His central theme is that these concepts make evolutionary biology an autonomous science, and not merely a subbranch of physics. This claim must not be misunderstood. Like all serious biologists, he believes in the unity of science: in particular, he believes that the laws of physics and chemistry are the same in living and inanimate matter. The claim for autonomy rests on the existence of concepts—for example, natural selection, genetic program, species—that are needed if we are to understand biology. These concepts are consistent with physical laws, but could not be deduced from them.
Review, 3377 words
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