Where are those people who said no one believes classical Darwinism any more? How be:
Qiaoying Lu Pierrick Bourrat, Br J Philos Sci axw035. The Evolutionary Gene and the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis: DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/bjps/axw035 20 April 2017:
Abstract: Advocates of an ‘extended evolutionary synthesis’ have claimed that standard evolutionary theory fails to accommodate epigenetic inheritance. The opponents of the extended synthesis argue that the evidence for epigenetic inheritance causing adaptive evolution in nature is insufficient. We suggest that the ambiguity surrounding the conception of the gene represents a background semantic issue in the debate. Starting from Haig’s gene-selectionist framework and Griffiths and Neumann-Held’s notion of the evolutionary gene, we define senses of ‘gene’, ‘environment’, and ‘phenotype’ in a way that makes them consistent with gene-centric evolutionary theory. We argue that the evolutionary gene, when being materialized, need not be restricted to nucleic acids but can encompass other heritable units such as epialleles. If the evolutionary gene is understood more broadly, and the notions of environment and phenotype are defined accordingly, current evolutionary theory does not require a major conceptual change in order to incorporate the mechanisms of epigenetic inheritance. More.
This is breathtaking in its duplicity: “If the evolutionary gene is understood more broadly, and the notions of environment and phenotype are defined accordingly, current evolutionary theory does not require a major conceptual change in order to incorporate the mechanisms of epigenetic inheritance.”
Understanding it the new way is the most major conceptual change since Origin of Species. And long overdue.
Jonathan Wells’Zombie Science seems relevant somehow.
See also: Darwinism: Replacement or extension?
Hat tip:Pos-Darwinista