Evolution: The First Four Billion Years. Edited by Michael Ruse and Joseph Travis (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 2009), 979 Pps., $39.95.
Michael Ruse is the director of the History and Philosophy of Science program at Florida State University, while Joseph Travis is the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Florida State University. Together they edit this volume – celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin – which contains sixteen distinct introductory-like essays over the overarching themes of evolutionary thought, followed by a (virtually) comprehensive alphabetical encyclopedia of evolutionary terms and concepts, written by more than 100 authors. Notably, the volume accepts the notion that evolution is an established fact, although it does critically examine the influence of evolution on philosophy, sociology, and religion. Recognizing that no short review can do justice – per se – to the immense value of this text, in what follows, salient points from the text shall be highlighted.
The volume begins with an introductory essay by Ruse covering the history of evolutionary thought, which (in part) highlights the three stages of evolutionary thought: the pre-Darwinian era, in which evolution was seen to be a pseudoscience, the Darwinian revolution period, and era following the Neo-Darwinian synthesis (which persists to this day). Ruse points out, however, that the concept only gained true traction after the Enlightenment, elucidating along the way the reasons for this delay in recognition. Ruse especially highlights the advancement of the concept of evolution that Charles Darwin made in identifying the mechanism of evolution: natural selection, something that explains the design-like aspect of living beings (25). However, Ruse is keen to point out that the idea of progress in biological advancement was not quick to disappear, persisting at least until the modern synthesis in the middle of the twentieth century (some would contend that the notion still persists unto this day).
Michael Benton contributes a particularly strong essay entitled ‘Paleontology and the History of Life’; within it, Benton addresses four concepts: what is known regarding the history of life, how life has diversified through time, the process of speciation, and the fossil record. Notably, Benton points out ten biological emergences, some of the more notable being the appearance of eukaryotes, the development of multicellularity, the onset of terrestrialization, the development of flight-capability, and the onset of consciousness; Benton argues that the non-duplication of these events speaks against the inevitability of convergence that such biologists as Conway Morris argue for (84). Joseph Travis and David Reznick offer a lucid essay depicting the complexity of the concept of adaptation, noting that it is remarkable how well-suited organisms are to their environment, noting that many facets of adaptation are as unclear to us now as they were to Darwin (129). Gregory A. Wray, in ‘Evolution and Development’, notes that one of the key goals of evolutionary biology is to understand how changes in the genome produce changes in the phenotype; Wray notes that developmental and evolutionary biology have been in-step with one another since at least the 1990s, with the realization of the import of same set of regulatory genes on the production of distinct body plans (222).
Kim Sterelny, in ‘Philosophy of Evolutionary Thought’, contends that the philosophy of evolutionary biology acts as a two pump of sorts, with each distinct discipline being strengthened by the relationship with the other; notably, she avers that the production of a unified science, if such be possible at all, must be based upon an evolutionary biology schemata, and not a physics-based model (326). David N. Livingstone’s chapter makes reference to the relation between evolution and religion, as well as Darwin’s religious evolution (making a nice play on the words); recognizing the impact of natural theology upon Darwin, Livingstone argues that Paley’s God became Darwin’s Nature (350).
In sum, this text succeeds in presenting evolutionary science as a dynamic, ever-growing discipline. Collectively, the text details the driving forces that direct evolutionary change, and discuss – in the process – various controversies and unresolved issues in evolutionary science. There are two points of criticism, however: the linkage(s) between the first part of the book – the distinct essays – and the second portion of the book – the alphabetical listing of terms – is rough, and not well transitioned; the title would also be strengthened by a ‘Table of Contents’ for the alphabetical list, which would aid one in locating the term(s) discussed therein. Nevertheless, this book is highly recommended for scholars in general, and for use as a supplementary text in courses covering the import of evolutionary thought, especially from a theistic perspective. After all, theists should be at the ‘head’ of the line, welcoming evolutionary ideas, and seeking to understand the intricacies of the deity’s action in the world.
Bradford McCall, Regent University, Virginia Beach, VA