The Evolution of Darwinism: Selection, Adaptation and Progress in Evolutionary Biology

No other scientific theory has had as great an impact on our understanding of the world as Darwin's theory outlined in his Origin of Species. Yet the theory has been the subject of controversy from its very beginning. This book focuses on three issues of debate in Darwin's theory of evolution--the nature of selection, the nature and scope of adaptation, and the question of evolutionary progress. It traces the varying interpretations to which these issues were subjected historically through the fierce contemporary debates continuing to rage.