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Artificial selection and the development of evolutionary theory
01 Jan 1982-
TL;DR: What do you do to start reading artificial selection and the development of evolutionary theory?
Abstract: What do you do to start reading artificial selection and the development of evolutionary theory? Searching the book that you love to read first or find an interesting book that will make you want to read? Everybody has difference with their reason of reading a book. Actuary, reading habit must be from earlier. Many people may be love to read, but not a book. It's not fault. Someone will be bored to open the thick book with small words to read. In more, this is the real condition. So do happen probably with this artificial selection and the development of evolutionary theory.
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TL;DR: It is argued that there needs to be a reconsideration of the pedagogic use of Darwin's analogy, as historical studies of domestic breeding practices in the eighteenth and nineteenth century confirm that the techniques of inbreeding and crossing were much more important than Darwin’s interpretation allowed for.
Abstract: The analogy between artificial selection of domestic varieties and natural selection in nature was a vital element of Darwin's argument in his Origin of Species. Ever since, the image of breeders creating new varieties by artificial selection has served as a convincing illustration of how the theory works. In this paper I argue that we need to reconsider our understanding of Darwin's analogy. Contrary to what is often assumed, nineteenth-century animal breeding practices constituted a highly controversial field that was fraught with difficulties. It was only with considerable effort that Darwin forged his analogy, and he only succeeded by downplaying the importance of two other breeding techniques - crossing of varieties and inbreeding - that many breeders deemed essential to obtain new varieties. Part of the explanation for Darwin's gloss on breeding practices, I shall argue, was that the methods of his main informants, the breeders of fancy pigeons, were not representative of what went on in the breeding world at large. Darwin seems to have been eager to take the pigeon fanciers at their word, however, as it was only their methods that provided him with the perfect analogy with natural selection. Thus while his studies of domestic varieties were important for the development of the concept of natural selection, the reverse was also true: Darwin's comprehension of breeding practices was moulded by his understanding of the working of natural selection in nature. Historical studies of domestic breeding practices in the eighteenth and nineteenth century confirm that, besides selection, the techniques of inbreeding and crossing were much more important than Darwin's interpretation allowed for. And they still are today. This calls for a reconsideration of the pedagogic use of Darwin's analogy too.
30 citations
Additional excerpts
...8 Sebright’s pamphlet and a short fragment of Wilkinson’s are reprinted in facsimile in Bajema, 1982; the original Bajema used for the Sebright facsimile is Darwin’s own annotated copy....
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present an analysis of European and American animal breeding practices from the Eighteenth to the Twenty-First Century, from the 18th to the twenty-first century.
Abstract: DOI: 10.3098/ah.2020.094.3.324 MARGARET E. DERRY is adjunct professor in the history department at University of Guelph, and also associated faculty in the Campbell Centre for Animal Welfare in the department of animal and poultry science at the University of Guelph. She has written six books and many articles on animal breeding, most of which relate to agricultural animals. She has bred purebred beef cattle for twenty-five years and Shorthorns for fifteen years. In the twentieth century a conflict arose between geneticists and practical breeders over which theory of heredity should direct animal breeding strategies and methods. Two different approaches existed and competed with each other over how to develop a breeding methodology for the livestock industries. This article addresses strategies on the basis of theoretical outlooks by explaining the way they arose over the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, what brought them into conflict with each other after the rise of Mendelian genetics in 1900, and ultimately how and why the differing systems emanating from them affected animal industries over the twentieth and into the twenty-first century. Looking at methodology through the lens of its theoretical roots provides an enriched appreciation of the interrelationship between science and practice, and also shows that the intellectual disagreements between geneticists and practical breeders rested on foundations that far predated the science of genetics. MARGARET E. DERRY Theory and Method: An Analysis of European and American Animal Breeding Practices, from the Eighteenth to the Twenty-First Century
16 citations
TL;DR: This essay traces the interlinked origins of two concepts found in Charles Darwin's writings: “unconscious selection,” and sexual selection as applied to humanity’s anatomical race distinctions, which effectively reunited these kindred concepts.
Abstract: This essay traces the interlinked origins of two concepts found in Charles Darwin's writings: "unconscious selection," and sexual selection as applied to humanity's anatomical race distinctions. Unconscious selection constituted a significant elaboration of Darwin's artificial selection analogy. As originally conceived in his theoretical notebooks, that analogy had focused exclusively on what Darwin later would call "methodical selection," the calculated production of desired changes in domestic breeds. By contrast, unconscious selection produced its results unintentionally and at a much slower pace. Inspiration for this concept likely came from Darwin's early reading of works on both animal breeding and physical ethnology. Texts in these fields described the slow and unplanned divergence of anatomical types, whether animal or human, under the guidance of contrasting ideals of physical perfection. These readings, it is argued, also led Darwin to his theory of sexual selection as applied to race, a theme he discussed mainly in his book The Descent of Man (1871). There Darwin described how the racial version of sexual selection operated on the same principle as unconscious selection. He thereby effectively reunited these kindred concepts.
11 citations
01 Mar 2006-Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences
TL;DR: It is argued that ASN should be conceived as a multifaceted experiment, and the experiment conception should help us make sense of Darwin's comments regarding the "monstrous" nature of domestic breeds traditionally considered to be problematic.
10 citations
01 Jan 2006
TL;DR: This book discusses the Bear Formation, Evolutionary Theory, and Paleolandscape Studies, and theories of Spéciation, as well as some of the mechanisms leading to speciation and its role in human evolution.
Abstract: ii List of Figures iv Chapter 1: Introduction 1 Objectives 1 Purgatorious 2 The Bear Formation 3 Evolutionary Theory 4 Modern Genetics and Evolution 7 Spéciation 12 Paleolandscape Studies 15 Chapter 2: Methods and Materials 23 Study Area 31 Chapter 3: Results 33 Chapter 4: Discussion 34 Chapter 5: Conclusion 40 Appendix A 42 References 87
4 citations