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Evolutionary theory: The current state

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Abstract

Modern problems for the theory of evolution in Russia are only partly related to domestic realities (a legacy of the 1990s, changing priorities of education, and the clericalization of the society). The main drawback comes from the acceptance of a physicalist paradigm, in which testing evolutionary hypotheses is reduced to testing predictions derived from processes working at lower levels. Hypotheses are no longer tested by direct observation of the real world, which has somehow ceased to be regarded as a source of proof. Instead, hypotheses are thought to be correct if they are supported by more readily understood patterns at lower (molecular or genetic) levels. This substitution may explain the poor support for the epigenetic theory of evolution, although it agrees with observations much better than the currently dominant theoretical concepts.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Borissiak Paleontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Profsoyuznaya 123, Moscow, 117997, Russia

    A. P. Rasnitsyn

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  1. A. P. Rasnitsyn
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Original Russian Text © A.P. Rasnitsyn, 2014, published in Paleontologicheskii Zhurnal, 2014, No. 1, pp. 3–8.

Modified report read on December 20, 2012 at the meeting dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the Orlov Paleontological Museum of the Borissiak Paleontological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

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Rasnitsyn, A.P. Evolutionary theory: The current state. Paleontol. J. 48, 1–6 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0031030114010110

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