Beyond Darwinism? The Challenge of Macroevolution to the Synthetic Theory of Evolution

Abstract

The current theory of biological evolution (the “Synthetic Theory” or “Modern Synthesis”) may be traced to Theodosius Dobzhansky's Genetics and the Origin of Species, published in 1937: a synthesis of genetic knowledge and Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection. The excitement provoked by Dobzhansky's book soon became reflected in many important contributions which incorporated into the Modern Synthesis relevant fields of biological knowledge. Notable landmarks are Ernst Mayr's Systematics and the Origin of Species (1942), Julian S. Huxley's Evolution: The Modern Synthesis (1942), George Gaylord Simpson's Tempo and Mode in Evolution (1944), and G. Ledyard Stebbins’ Variation and Evolution in Plants (1950). It seemed to many scientists that the theory of evolution was essentially complete and that all that was left was to fill in the details.