Hypothesis that organisms have an innate tendency to evolve towards some goal
Evolutionary progress as a tree of life. Ernst Haeckel, 1866Lamarck's two-factor theory involves 1) a complexifying force that drives animal body plans towards higher levels (orthogenesis) creating a ladder of phyla, and 2) an adaptive force that causes animals with a given body plan to adapt to circumstances (use and disuse, inheritance of acquired characteristics), creating a diversity of species and genera. Popular views of Lamarckism only consider an aspect of the adaptive force.[1]
Orthogenesis, also known as orthogenetic evolution, progressive evolution, evolutionary progress, or progressionism, is an obsolete 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".[2][3][4] 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 (straight-line) model of directed evolution.[5] 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; modern supporters include E. O. Wilson and Simon Conway Morris. The evolutionary biologist Ernst Mayr made the term effectively taboo in the journal Nature in 1948, by stating that it implied "some supernatural force".[6][7] The American paleontologist George Gaylord Simpson (1953) attacked orthogenesis, linking it with vitalism by describing it as "the mysterious inner force".[8] Despite this, many museum displays and textbook illustrations continue to give the impression that evolution is directed.
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.
^Gould, Stephen J. (2001). The lying stones of Marrakech : penultimate reflections in natural history. Vintage. pp. 119–121. ISBN 978-0-09-928583-0.
^Bowler 1989, pp. 268–270.
^Mayr, Ernst (1988). Toward a New Philosophy of Biology: Observations of an Evolutionist. Harvard University Press. p. 499. ISBN 978-0-674-89666-6.
^Ruse 1996, pp. 526–539.
^Ulett, Mark A. (2014). "Making the case for orthogenesis: The popularization of definitely directed evolution (1890–1926)". Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences. 45: 124–132. doi:10.1016/j.shpsc.2013.11.009. PMID 24368232.
^Ruse 1996, p. 447.
^Letter from Ernst Mayr to R. H. Flower, Evolution papers, 23 January 1948
^Simpson, George Gaylord (1953). Life of the Past: An Introduction to Paleontology. Yale University Press. p. 125.
The term orthogenesis was introduced by Wilhelm Haacke in 1893 and popularized by Theodor Eimer five years later. Proponents of orthogenesis had rejected...
theistic evolution could take other forms, such as the orthogenesis of Teilhard de Chardin. Orthogenesis or Progressionism is the hypothesis that life has...
extinction. Support for orthogenesis began to decline during the modern synthesis in the 1940s, when it became apparent that orthogenesis could not explain...
Mutationism, along with other alternatives to Darwinism like Lamarckism and orthogenesis, was discarded by most biologists as they came to see that Mendelian...
inheritance into his theory of evolution as a supplement to his concept of orthogenesis, a drive towards complexity. Introductory textbooks contrast Lamarckism...
unconstitutional. His 1996 book on the idea of progress in biology (orthogenesis), Monad to Man, had a mixed reception from other philosophers of biology...
or an innate tendency for "progress", as expressed in beliefs such as orthogenesis and evolutionism; realistically however, evolution has no long-term goal...
Valdiviathyris (no visible change since the Priabonian, 35 million years ago) Orthogenesis Howard, Hildegarde (1947). "An ancestral Golden Eagle raises a question...
Zallinger. It has been viewed as a picture of the discredited theory, orthogenesis, that evolution is progressive. As such, it has been widely parodied...
evolution. He attempted to combine Lamarckism, natural selection and orthogenesis into a unified framework. Many of the factors of the modern synthesis...
He is known for his own evolutionary theory, nomogenesis (a form of orthogenesis incorporating mutationism) as opposed to the theories of Darwin and Lamarck...
1843 – 29 May 1898) was a German zoologist. He was a popularizer of orthogenesis, a form of directed evolution through mutations that made use of Lamarckian...
acquired characteristics (neo-Lamarckism), an innate drive for change (orthogenesis), and sudden large mutations (saltationism). Mendelian genetics, a series...
metrics. Many biologists used to believe that evolution was progressive (orthogenesis) and had a direction that led towards so-called "higher organisms", despite...
smaller ancestors with smaller antlers, was taken as a prime example of orthogenesis (directed evolution), an evolutionary mechanism opposed to Darwinian...
known as orthogenesis or evolutionary progress. Such goal-directedness implies a long-term teleological force; some supporters of orthogenesis considered...
Wisseman, Volker (ed.). Evolution on Rails Mechanisms and Levels of Orthogenesis. Universitätsverlag Göttingen. pp. 115–119. ISBN 978-3-938616-85-7. {{cite...
extinct species, but the genome will differ from the original species. Orthogenesis (contrastable with convergent evolution; involves teleology) However...
deliberately improved themselves through progressive inherited change (orthogenesis). The teleological belief went on to include cultural evolution and social...
were used to describe different positions from the 1890s to the 1920s: "Orthogenesis" (goal-directed evolution), "nomogenesis" (evolution according to fixed...
idea of transmutation of species, whether progressive goal-directed orthogenesis or Charles Darwin's undirected theory of evolution. The chain of being...
thought to arise through "jumps" rather than gradual adaptation, forms of orthogenesis claiming that species had an inherent tendency to change in a particular...
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