Introduction: The Exclusion of Soft (“Lamarckian”) Inheritance from the Modern Synthesis
Introduction: The Exclusion of Soft (“Lamarckian”) Inheritance from the Modern Synthesis
This chapter discusses the Modern Synthesis of evolution that emerged between the 1920s and 1950s and persisted in the 1960s. The Modern Synthesis refers to the fusion of ideas among biologists about the nature and dynamics of evolutionary change. This chapter considers why the notion of soft inheritance and inheritance of acquired characters were rejected with the establishment of the Modern Synthesis in the 1960s. It also explains why Mendelian genetics dominated evolutionary thinking during that period.
Keywords: Modern Synthesis, evolutionary change, soft inheritance, acquired characters, Mendelian genetics, genetics
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