Abstract
The question of qualitative changes during the major transitions in evolution is developed in this chapter. The concept is introduced that among these changes were increases in individual organismal autonomy in the sense of emancipation from the environment with variations in the capacity for flexibility, self-regulation, and self-control of behavior. It is proposed that the relevance of differences in autonomy for understanding macroevolutionary innovations was underestimated in the past.
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Rosslenbroich, B. (2014). What Is the Outcome of Evolution?. In: On the Origin of Autonomy. History, Philosophy and Theory of the Life Sciences, vol 5. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-04141-4_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-04141-4_1
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