Orthogenesis

From Biol301

Notes from Orthogenesis article found on Wikipedia.org on 02/01/06

-"Orthogenesis, orthogenetic evolution or autogeneis, is the hypotehsis that life has an innate tendency to move in a unilinear fashion due to some internal or external driving force."

-"Many sources mix this heterodox view of evoution with another --that evolution is proceeding to some long term or ultimate goal; the result are definitions that state orthogenesis proposes that evoution moves in a unilinear fasion toward a perfect goal."

-"The distinction can be seen when we recognize that orthogenesis is inherent in the theories of Haeckel and R.S. Lull. Both scientists proposed mechanisms whereby evolution proceeded in unilinear fashion, but neigher saw goals (instead they made pseudo-scientific appeals to uknonw genetic driving processes)."

-"Lamarck himself accepted the idea and it had a central role in his theory of inheritance of acquired characteristics...."

-"Autogenesisis a specific version of orthogenesis which also incorporates spontaneouss generation, the refuted hypothesis that each specis is created by its own abiogenesis or special creation event."

-"Signs that species shared a common ancester were detected before Darwin, but in absence of a mechanism some still rejected [evolution]."

-"The orthogenesis hypothesis began to collaps when it became clear that i could not explain the patterns found by paleontologists in the fossil record, which was non-linear with many complications. The hypothesis was generally abandonded when no mechanism could be found that would account for the process...."

-"A few hung on to the orthogenesis hypothesis as late as the 1950s by claiming that the process of macroevolution, the long term trends in evoution, were distinct form the processes of microevoltuion."