Orthogenesis
Author Title Field Date Lamarck Features
Lamarck Inherent progressive tendency Zoology 1809 yes In his Philosophie Zoologique , inherent progressive tendency drives organisms continuously towards greater complexity , in separate lineages ( phyla ) , no extinction . ( Lamarckism , use and disuse , and inheritance of acquired characteristics , was a secondary aspect of this , an adaptive force creating species within a phylum . )
Baer Purposeful creation Embryology 1859 Forces which are not directed - so-called blind forces - can never produce order
Kölliker Heterogenesis Anatomy 1864 yes Wholly separate lines of descent with no common ancestor
Cope Law of acceleration Palaeontology 1868 yes Combined orthogenetic constraints with Lamarckian use and disuse . On the Origin of Genera ; See also Cope 's rule ( linear increase in size of species )
Nägeli Inner perfecting principle Botany 1884 yes An idioplasm transmitted inherited characteristics ; many evolutionary developments nonadaptive ; variation internally programmed
Spencer Progressionism 'The Development Hypothesis ' Social theory 1852 Yes Cultural value of progress ; Spencer has no rivals when it comes to open , flagrant connections of social Progress with evolutionary progress . - Michael Ruse
Darwin ( concept of higher and lower species ) , Pangenesis Evolution 1859 yes Origin of Species is somewhat progressionist , e.g . man higher than animals , alongside natural selection Pangenesis theory of inheritance by gemmules from all over body was Lamarckian : parents could pass on traits acquired in lifetime
Haacke Orthogenesis Zoology 1893 yes Accompanied by epimorphism , a tendency to increasing perfection
Eimer Orthogenesis Zoology 1898 On Orthogenesis : And the Impotence of Natural Selection in Species Formation : trends in evolution with no adaptive significance , claimed hard to explain by natural selection
Bergson Elan vital Philosophy 1907 Creative Evolution
Przibram Apogenesis Embryology 1910s
Plate Orthoselection or Old-Darwinism Zoology 1913 yes Combined theory
Rosa Hologenesis Zoology 1918 yes Hologenesis : a New Theory of Evolution and the Geographical Distribution of Living Beings
Whitman Orthogenesis Zoology 1919 no Orthogenetic Evolution in Pigeons posthumous
Berg Nomogenesis Zoology 1926 no Chemical forces direct evolution , leading to humans
Abel Trägheitsgesetz ( the law of inertia ) Palaeontology 1928 based on Dollo 's law of irreversibility of evolution ( which can be explained without orthogenesis as a statistical improbability that a path should be exactly reversed )
Lwoff Physiological degradation Physiology 1930s-1940s yes Directed loss of functions in microorganisms
Beurlen Orthogenesis Palaeontology 1930 no Start is random metakinesis , generating variety ; then palingenesis ( in Beurlen 's sense , repeating developmental pathway of ancestors ) as mechanism for orthogenesis
Victor Jollos [ pl ] Directed mutation Protozoology , Zoology 1931 yes Combined orthogenesis with Lamarckism ( inheriting acquired characteristics after heat shock as dauermodifications , passed on by plasmatic inheritance in the cytoplasm )
Osborn Aristogenesis Palaeontology 1934 yes
Theories
Further information : Alternatives to evolution by natural selection For the columns for other philosophies of evolution ( i.e. , combined theories including any of Lamarckism , Mutationism , Natural selection , and Vitalism ) , `` yes '' means that person definitely supports the theory ; `` no '' means explicit opposition to the theory ; a blank means the matter is apparently not discussed , not part of the theory .
Orthogenesis, also known as orthogenetic evolution, progressive evolution, evolutionary progress, or progressionism, is the biological hypothesis that organisms have an innate tendency to evolve in a definite direction towards some goal (teleology) due to some internal mechanism or driving force. According to the theory, the largest-scale trends in evolution have an absolute goal such as increasing biological complexity. Prominent historical figures who have championed some form of evolutionary progress include Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, and Henri Bergson. The term orthogenesis was introduced by Wilhelm Haacke in 1893 and popularized by Theodor Eimer five years later. Proponents of orthogenesis had rejected the theory of natural selection as the organizing mechanism in evolution for a rectilinear model of directed evolution. With the emergence of the modern synthesis, in which genetics was integrated with evolution, orthogenesis and other alternatives to Darwinism were largely abandoned by biologists, but the notion that evolution represents progress is still widely shared. The evolutionary biologist Ernst Mayr made the term effectively taboo in the journal Nature in 1948, by stating that it implied some supernatural force. The American paleontologist George Gaylord Simpson (1953) attacked orthogenesis, linking it with vitalism by describing it as the mysterious inner force. Modern supporters include E. O. Wilson and Simon Conway Morris, while museum displays and textbook illustrations continue to give the impression of progress in evolution. The philosopher of biology Michael Ruse notes that in popular culture evolution and progress are synonyms, while the unintentionally misleading image of the March of Progress, from apes to modern humans, has been widely imitated.