Life is simply the reification of the process of living.
Ernst MayrRead
Evolution, thus, is merely contingent on certain processes articulated by Darwin: variation and selection. No longer is a fixed object transformed, as in transformational evolution, but an entirely new start is, so to speak, made in every generation.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Evolution is a process driven by variation and selection, resulting in new beginnings with each generation.
In this quote, Ernst Mayr emphasizes the idea that evolution is not a simple transformation of a fixed object over time, but rather a dynamic process characterized by variation and natural selection. Each generation represents a fresh start, where new traits emerge and adapt to their environments, highlighting the complexity and ongoing nature of evolutionary change.
Themes
EvolutionVariationSelectionGenerationsChange
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a lecture about evolutionary biology to emphasize the complexity of evolution.
More from Ernst Mayr
All quotes →The most consequential change in man's view of the world, of living nature and of himself came with the introduction, over a period of some 100 years beginning only in the 18th century, of the idea of change itself, of change over periods of time: in a word, of evolution.
Ernst MayrRead
There are a number of attributes of species and populations that are not of any particular selective advantage to any single individual in a population but that are of great advantage to the population as a whole.
Ernst MayrRead
Wherever we look at the living biota … discontinuities are overwhelmingly frequent…The discontinuities are even more striking in the fossil record. New species usually appear in the fossil record suddenly, not connected with their ancestors by a series of intermediates.
Ernst MayrRead
Evolution ... is opportunistic, hence unpredictable.
Ernst MayrRead
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