Evolution Now

Evolution Now.

By David Penny. Bloomington (Indiana): Xlibris.$47.46 (hardcover); $30.20 (paper). ix + 215 p.; ill.; no index. ISBN: 978-1-4990-9931-7 (hc); 978-1-4990-9929-4 (pb); 978-1-4990-9930-0 (eb). 2017. In The Logic of Scientific Discovery, Karl Popper (1959.London (UK): Hutchinson and Company) criticized the obscuring nature of claims that purport certainty in science, primarily because such claims represent impediments to the process of scientific advance. In Evolution Now, David Penny applies the Popperian microscope to the whole of evolutionary thought—from the 1600s through the extended evolutionary synthesis. Penny presents what he calls an “optimistic approach” (p. viii) to evolutionary theory that acknowledges the impossibility of certainty for scientific ideas, and highlights how this perspective (skepticism) encourages progress in evolutionary thinking—from European indigenous knowledge of the 17th century through questions about the origin of eukaryotes, mutation, protein/enzyme evolution, and the role of epigenetics in evolution. The author’s method of approach is both novel and engaging. Rather than subject historical ideas to the scrutiny of modernity, he simply asks: “Were their ideas good, testable science?” In this light, we gain a deeper appreciation for the contributions of Charles Lyell, James Hutton, Georges Cuvier, and Charles Darwin, and this thread of scrutiny carries all the way through the modern era—to such topics as the cause of the K-Pg extinction, human evolution, the origin of eukaryotes, systems biology, and protein evolution. Penny’s unique perspective also enables a nuanced critique of the traditional Darwinian paradigm. Not only does he believe that early evolutionists (for the most part) were doing good science, but he maintains the traditional Darwinian paradigm has stood up well in light of new knowledge—including the modern synthesis and the more recent extended evolutionary synthesis. Structurally, it might seem that Evolution Now is arranged to mirror the presentation of Darwin’s original theory in On the Origin of Species—a consilience of induction. He begins in Chapters 1 and 2 with an overview of the pre-Darwinian backdrop, considering all of the usual suspects. Although this is an often-overplayed narrative, Penny manages to present the historical fabric in a new light—that of Popperian introspection. As in Origin, the bulk of Penny’s argument resides in Chapter 3, where the author presents a 20-point analysis of Darwin’s theory aimed at testing its sufficiency as an explanans in a modern era. Although the presentation is both thorough and nuanced, on occasion the material seems out of context and at times overwhelming for readers (e.g., his discussion of gene frequencies and genetic engineering in Chapter 3). After establishing the fact of evolution (and natural selection as its cause), the author considers the trajectory of the Darwinian paradigm through the rise of the modern synthesis, concluding that the synthesis successfully set the stage for advances in modern evolutionary ecology, molecular evolution, and mathematical precision. Not only this, but the synthetic nature of the Darwinian paradigm furnished opportunity for future “good science” to occur—from Watson and Crick’s discovery of the helix, to insights about the nature of our last eukaryotic common ancestor, and considerations about the future of biological thinking.
According to Penny, evolution remains a great “light illuminating all facts” in biology (P. Teilhard de Chardin. 1959. The Phenomenon of Man. New York: Harper; p. 219). However, we must remain vigilant and not prima facie accept our models and theories as fact. As Popper and now Penny remind us, good scientific thinking is defined by its inherent falsifiability, and it is up to us to subject our ideas and models to the scrutiny of the Popperian lens. Good science will stand, bad science will fall, but there is considerable promise that lies ahead both for the scientific endeavor, and for evolutionary thinking.

Charles J. Alt, Science, Princeton Day School, Princeton, New Jersey