ENGLISH

The Origins of Order: Self-Organization and Selection in Evolution

By Stuart A. Kauffman

Book information

Publisher
Oxford University Press, USA
Year
1993
ISBN
9780195058116, 0-19-505811-9
LCC
QH325 .K39 1993
Open Library ID
OL1533417M
Language
english
Format
DJVU
Filesize
12 MB (12719940 bytes)
Pages
730\730
Topic
Biology
Time added
2014-10-05 02:30:00

Description

Stuart Kauffman has written a challenging book on the general problem of the origins of life and maintenance of order in complex biological systems. Kauffman contends that the basic concepts of Darwinian evolution by natural selection must be extended to accommodate new information from molecular biology, chemistry, physics, and mathematics. Kauffman's hallmark is a shift to nonlinear paradigms for living systems. Kauffman argues that biological order is largely self-organized and spontaneous, and proposes to extend evolutionary theory beyond Darwin. His thesis requires three components: an understanding of spontaneous sources of order and self-organization; integration with natural selection, which in Kauffman's scheme molds biological order; and a consideration of adaptation. Origins of Order will advance our understanding of evolution and provoke considerable discussion among evolutionary, molecular and developmental biologists.

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