Research into the holistic nature of organisms has large implications for the way we think about evolution. By appealing to mutation and natural selection, Darwinian evolutionary theory tends to "explain" (construct evolutionary stories about) the evolution of adaptive characteristics in isolation from the rest of the organism. One conceptually abstracts, say, horns or grinding teeth from the whole organism and interprets each as its own kind of "survival strategy."

This approach, for all its suggestive power, has fundamental drawbacks. First, each characteristic of an organism has multiple functions, and it is largely arbitrary which one we focus on to construct our evolutionary story. Many such story may well be a tall story. Second, the organism itself, as a distinctive unity in its own right, dissolves into an array of traits and becomes a kind of epiphenomenon. This approach to explanation turns out to explain away the organism itself.

As the anthropologist and historian of science Loren Eisely points out,

"Darwin's primary interest [was] the modification of living forms under the selective influence of the environment…. Magnificent as his grasp of this aspect of biology is, it is counterbalanced by a curious lack of interest in the nature of the organism itself…. It is difficult to find in Darwin any really deep recognition of the life of the organism as a functioning whole which must be coordinated interiorly before it can function exteriorly."

A more adequate understanding of evolution requires that we first investigate the organism as a whole and how its members interrelate and interact within the context of the whole organism and its environment. This holistic understanding can then form the starting point for thinking about the evolution of the animal. The evolutionary biologist Dobzhansky's famous statement that "nothing in biology can be understood except in light of evolution" is a grand claim that we believe is, in the end, true. But we have a lot of work to do before we get there.

Here are some articles that discuss the shortcomings of simple adaptive "explanations" of animal evolution:

"Science as Process or Dogma? The Case of the Peppered Moth." Craig Holdrege, Elemente der Naturwissenschaft, Vol. 70, 1999.

"The Giraffe's Short Neck." Craig Holdrege, In Context #10.

"Dogma and Doubt." Ronald H. Brady (reprinted from Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 1982, vol. 17, pp. 79-96).

"The Global Patterns of Life: A New Empiricism in Biogeography." Ronald H. Brady (reprinted from Gaia and Evolution, published by the Wadebridge Ecological Centre, Worthyvale Manor, Camelford, Cornwall, UK, 1989).

"Do Organisms Merely Survive?" Steve Talbott, In Context # 8.

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