Gerd B. Müller
(1953-)
Gerd B. Müller is emeritus professor at the University of Vienna where he was the head of the Department of Theoretical Biology in the Center for Organismal Systems Biology. He does research on
Evo-Devo theory, and the
Extended Evolutionary Synthesis.
Together with Eva Jablonka, Kevin Laland, Alex Mesoudi, Stuart Newman, Massimo Pigliucci, Kim Sterelny, John Odling-Smee, Tobias Uller, as well as
Denis Noble and others, Müller is an advocate of an alternative evolutionary framework, one version of which has been termed the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis. In contrast to the
Modern Synthesis, the population dynamical model of evolution established in the early twentieth century that had concentrated on the processes of variation and adaptation, the focus of the EES is on the generative properties of evolution, integrating conceptual developments from evolutionary developmental biology, genomics, ecology, and other fields. It differs from the standard theory in its inclusion of the constructive processes in development, the consideration of reciprocal dynamics of causation, and the relinquishment of a predominantly genetic explanation.
Müller writes...
The molecular mechanisms that bring about biological form in modern-day
embryos, however, should not be confused with the causes that led to the appearance of
these forms in the first place. Although the forces driving morphological evolution certainly
include natural selection, the appearance of specific, phenotypic elements of construction
must not be taken as being caused by natural selection; selection can only work
on what already exists. Darwin acknowledges this point in the first edition of The Origin of
Species, where he states that certain characters may have “originated from quite secondary
causes, independently from natural selection” (Darwin, 1859, 196), although he attributes
“little importance” to such effects. In a modified version of the same paragraph in
the sixth edition (Darwin, 1872, 157), he concedes that “we may easily err in attributing
It is the aim of the present volume to elaborate on this distinction between the origination
(innovation) and the diversification (variation) of form by focusing on the plurality of
causal factors responsible for the former, relatively neglected aspect, the origination of organismal
form. Failure to incorporate this aspect represents one of the major gaps in the
canonical theory of evolution, it being quite distinct from the topics with which population
genetics or developmental genetics is primarily concerned.
Origination of Organismal Form, p.3
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