Cain, Joe. 2009. Rethinking the Synthesis Period in Evolutionary Studies. Journal of the History of Biology.
DOI: 10.1007/s10739-009-9206-z
Abstract: I propose we abandon the unit concept of “the evolutionary synthesis”. There was much more to evolutionary studies in the 1920s and 1930s than is suggested in our commonplace narratives of this object in history. Instead, four organising threads capture much of evolutionary studies at this time. First, the nature of species and the process of speciation were dominating, unifying subjects. Second, research into these subjects developed along four main lines, or problem complexes: variation, divergence, isolation, and selection. Some calls for ‹synthesis’ focused on these problem complexes (sometimes on one of these; other times, all). In these calls, comprehensive and pluralist compendia of plausibly relevant elements were preferred over reaching consensus about the value of particular formulae. Third, increasing confidence in the study of common problems coincided with methodological and epistemic changes associated with experimental taxonomy. Finally, the surge of interest in species problems and speciation in the 1930s is intimately tied to larger trends, especially a shifting balance in the life sciences towards process-based biologies and away from object-based naturalist disciplines. Advocates of synthesis in evolution supported, and were adapting to, these larger trends.
Cain, Joe. 2009. Ritual Patricide: Why Stephen Jay Gould Assassinated George Gaylord Simpson. In David Sepkoski and Michael Ruse (eds.). The Paleobiological Revolution: Essays on the Growth of Modern Paleontology (Chicago: University of Chicago Press), pp. 346-363. Order UK or US.
Abstract: Simpson was the undisputed American heavy-weight in macro-evolutionary theory prior to paleobiology’s disciplinary formation in the 1970s. Simpson’s intellectual influence on this next generation of thinkers is tied intimately to aggressive and bitter disputes regarding continuity versus originality. In the process, Simpson’s macro-evolutionary views were attacked in volleys of empirical and theoretical criticism. They also were attacked on historical and philosophical grounds, as workers struggled to distinguish new from old. These attacks took on an intensity well beyond the norm for contentiousness theoretical disputes. These events are best understood as ritual patricide. The fight with Simpson functioned as a unifying force in the frantic discipline building underway in macro-evolutionary studies during the 1970s.
Cain, Joe. 2009. Ernst Mayr and the 'Biology of Birds', in Cain, J. and Ruse, M. (eds.). 2009. Descended from Darwin: Insights into the
History of Evolutionary Studies, 1900-1970 (Philadelphia: PA: American Philosophical Society. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, volume 99, part 1). Article | Volume.
Cain, Joe and Messenger, Sharon (eds.). 2009. Charles Darwin's The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (London: Penguin Classics). Includes Introduction and scholarly materials by Cain.
Cain, Joe. 2009. Express Yourself. Wellcome History 40:32.
Cain, Joe. 2009. [11 articles].
In Evolution: The First Three Billion Years, edited by
Michael Ruse and Joseph Travis. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press).
ISBN 978-0-674-03175-3.
Order: UK or US
Cain's entries include:
- Chetverikov, Sergi
- Mayr, Ernst
- Huxley, Julian
- Lack, David
- Romer, Alfred
- Simpson, George Gaylord
- Timofeeff-Ressovsky, Nikolai Vladimirovich
- Evolution: The Modern Synthesis
- Genetics and the Origin of Species
- Systematics and the Origin of Species
- Tempo and Mode in Evolution
Cain, Joe. 2008. Arthur James Cain. In New Dictionary of Scientific Biography. (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons)
Cain, J. (ed) 2007.
Sewall Wright Taught Me (London: Euston Grove
Press), 3 volumes.
volume 1: Evolution
volume 2: Genetics
volume 3: Physiological Genetics
Cain, J. (ed) 2007.
Regular Contact With Anyone Interested. Documents of the Society for the Study of Speciation.
2nd edition
(London: Euston Grove Press), 103p.
Cain, Joe. 2004. Missing items from
published bibliographies of George Gaylord Simpson. Archives
of Natural History 31: 353-355.
Cain, Joe. 2004.
Launching the Society of Systematic Zoology in 1947. In
D. Williams and P. Forey. Milestones in Systematics
(London: CRC Press), pp. 19-48.
Cain, Joe, ed. 2004. Exploring the borderlands:
documents of the Committee on Common Problems of Genetics,
Paleontology, and Systematics, 1943-1944. Transactions
of the American Philosophical Society. 94: xlii +
160.
Cain,
Joe. 2003.
A matter of perspective: disparate voices in the evolutionary
synthesis. Archives of natural history 30: 28-39.
(enter "anh30128" when prompted)
Cain, Joe. 2002.
Co-opting colleagues: appropriating Dobzhansky's 1936
lectures at Columbia. Journal of the history of biology
35: 207-219.
Cain, Joe. 2002.
Epistemic and community transition in American evolutionary
studies: the 'Committee on Common Problems of Genetics,
Paleontology, and Systematics' (1942-1949). Studies
in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical
Sciences. 33: 283-313.
Cain, Joe. 2001.
The Columbia Biological Series, 1894-1974: a bibliographic
note. Archives of Natural History 28: 353-366.
Cain, Joe. 2001.
New evidence on Dobzhansky’s 1936 ‘Jesup’
lectures. The Linnean 17 (3): 15-18. (also see Cain. 2002.
"Co-opting Colleagues" for further development.)
Cain, Joe. 2000. For the 'promotion' and 'integration'
of various fields: first years of Evolution, 1947-1949.
Archives of Natural History 27: 231-259.
Cain, Joseph. 2000.
Towards a 'greater degree of integration': The Society
for the Study of Speciation, 1939-1941. British Journal
for the History of Science 33: 85-108.
Cain, Joe. 2000. Woodger, Positivism, and the Evolutionary Synthesis. Biology and Philosophy 15: 535-551.
Cain, Joseph. 1994. Ernst Mayr as community architect:
launching the Society for the Study of Evolution and the
journal Evolution. Biology and Philosophy 9:
387-427
Cain, Joe. 1993. Common problems and cooperative solutions: organizational activities in evolutionary studies, 1936-1947. Isis 84 (1):1-25. view through JSTOR.
Cain, Joe. 1992.
Building a temporal biology: Simpson's program for paleontology
during an American expansion of biology. Earth Sciences
History 11: 30-36.
Cain, Joe. 1990. George Gaylord Simpson's 'History of
the Section of Vertebrate Paleontology in the Paleontological
Society'. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology
10: 40-48. View through JSTOR.
Cain, Joe. 1989. Moving Beyond Consistency: The Historical Significance of Simpson's Tempo and Mode in Evolution (81Mb).
Abstract:
Simpson’s (1944) Tempo and Mode in Evolution (TM) is a complex book. TM’s content and significance have been poorly examined previously. My integrated analysis emphasizes two themes. First, Simpson elaborated a comprehensive evolutionary theory. Second, Simpson pursued different agendas with different audiences. TM defended a particular synthetic theory against alternatives. Also, TM supported a particular interschool conceptual unification: Morgan’s chromosome theory of heredity, Wrightian population genetics, adaptation via natural selection, and Simpson’s temporal approach to evolution. TM was well received among paleontologists, who largely adopted Simpson’s conclusions as the foundation for their research; however, biologists mostly favored extrapolationist alternatives instead of Simpson’s agenda, citing TM only to validate particular explanatory tools.
.....I untangled three conflated uses of the “consistency” argument for TM: literal consistency, extrapolation, and a shared explanatory tool box. The latter most precisely describes (1) the relation between Simpson and other MS synthetic theorists, and (2) the relation between Simpson’s explanations for micro-, macro-, and mega-evolution. This topic provides only one (and not the most significant) point regarding TM. Simpson’s other agendas were separable from the construction of his comprehensive theory, as TM was far more than a “consistency” argument.
.....A research school-level of analysis provides a finer-grained study of synthetic theories. This recognizes Simpson’s intellectual achievements plus the dissent within individual fields. Also, it allows for a study of the competition between conflicting synthetic theories. Furthermore, the study of explanatory tool boxes provides an alternative method for studying evolutionary theorists.
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