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Updated: May 18, 2026

A Strategy to Identify de Novo Mutations in Common Disorders such as Autism and Schizophrenia
Published on: June 15, 2011
Darwinism, not mutationism, explains the design of organisms
1Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS, United Kingdom. andy.gardner@zoo.ox.ac.uk
Abstract:
Shapiro claims that advances in molecular genetics have undermined Darwinism, leading him to advocate mutationism. However, this extreme view is bourne out of conceptual error. He has misunderstood the distinction between gradualism and saltationism, which do not concern the rate of genetic change, but rather the emergence of complex design. And he has misunderstood the relationship between the dynamics of natural selection and the agency of individual organisms: these are not competing hypotheses, but rather alternative conceptualizations of the same phenomenon.
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