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Updated: Oct 31, 2025

Following the Dynamics of Structural Variants in Experimentally Evolved Populations
Published on: February 3, 2023
Evolutionary pluralism and the ideal of a unified biology
Leonardo Augusto Luvison Araújo1, Claudio Ricardo Martins Dos Reis2
1Pesquisador de pós-doutorado, Faculdade de Educação/Universidade de São Paulo.São Paulo - SP - Brasil leonardo_luvison@hotmail.com.
Abstract:
Biological evolution is often regarded as a central and unifying axis of biology. This article discusses historical aspects of this ideal of unification, as well as signs of its disintegration from the 1960s to 1980s. We argue that despite new proposals for the synthesis of biological knowledge, contemporary evolutionary biology is characterized by pluralism. The main points in favor of evolutionary pluralism are discussed and some consequences of this perspective are presented, particularly in terms of the ideal of a unified biology. Finally, we defend an evolutionary pluralism that critiques the ideal of unification as a scientific objective, but still favors local integrations.
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