Stephen Jay Gould (1941-)

Stephen Jay Gould, an American paleontologist, is currently a professor at Harvard University. He is best known in the world of evolution for his theory of punctuated equilibria, developed with Niles Eldredge (see Other Types of Selection). This theory has been commonly misunderstood since its development, especially by creationists and by sensationalist journalists heralding a "radical break" with traditional Darwinism. Though Gould and Eldredge still defend their view, it is often agreed that the theory of punctuated equilibria is actually a form of natural selection, and it in no way represents a radically different view.

Gould has also been an extremely influential science writer, especially in the United States. He has published or contributed to dozens of books, and wrote a monthly magazine column for almost thirty years, and his literary style is generally considered extraordinary. He has been a major influence in the ongoing battle against creationism in America, particularly in the school systems. His views on other aspects of evolutionary theory are often criticized, especially his objections to adaptationist reasoning and his belief that the human cognitive faculty is not a product of natural selection. Because of his somewhat unorthodox opinions, some scientists consider his rhetoric better than his scientific reasoning.

Niles Eldredge

Niles Eldredge is the Curator in the Department of Invertebrates at the American Museum of Natural History. Together with Stephen Jay Gould, he co-developed the theory of punctuated equilibria, which he still defends today. Eldredge has been a prolific writer in his own right, defending evolution against creationism, describing punctuationism and the debate between punctuationists and gradualists, and discussing ecological issues now facing the world.

Richard Dawkins (1941-)

Richard Dawkins was born in Nairobi, Kenya in 1941, where he lived until 1949 when his family returned to England. He studied under the noted ethologist Niko Tinbergen at Oxford University, where he became a fellow after teaching briefly at the University of California at Berkeley. His 1976 book The Selfish Gene was a popularization and expansion of gene-based selection, also championed by Hamilton, Williams, and Trivers. The book also contained the first discussion of the meme, or unit of cultural inheritance. He has since written five more books - one, The Extended Phenotype, directed mainly toward biologists, and four dedicated to the explanation and popularization of Dawkins' view of evolutionary theory. Dawkins has also worked extensively in computer modeling of evolution and its trends.

Since 1995, Dawkins has held the Charles Simonyi Chair of Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University, which confers on him responsibility for advocating scientific ideas and reasoning, educating the public about science and its methodology, and especially publicizing his area of expertise: Darwinism. In Dawkins' worldview, the apparent randomness and purposelessness often attributed to the Darwinian paradigm most emphatically do not detract from human dignity, and can in fact be a source of inspiration.

Dawkins' scientific views of evolution, as put forth in his six books, are the theoretical underpinning for the scientific portions of this site. His famous concept of the replicator as the basis of natural selection has been chosen as the overarching framework that binds this site together.

Steven Pinker (1954-)

Steven Pinker is one of today's premier linguists. Professor of Cognitive Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Pinker is studying linguistic behavior, such as how and when people inflect certain words; what parts of the brain are used; and how people with different brain disorders react to the same tests. He also uses this information to create a theory of language acquisition and grammatical structure. He has proposed a connection between rule-based linguistics proposed by renowned linguist Noam Chomsky and the connectionist computer models now popular. He also argues that the human linguistic faculty is an adaptation shaped and molded by natural selection; in this view he opposes prominent theorists such as Noam Chomsky and Stephen Jay Gould. His linguistic analyses, as presented in his books and papers, are the basis for many of the views on language presented in this site.

Daniel Dennett (1942-)

Daniel Dennett was born in Boston in 1942. Educated in philosophy, he has made Darwinism and memetic evolution central aspects of his philosophy of mind. He has done extensive work with the topics of free will, consciousness, mental functioning, and evolutionary theory; he has published a number of books and over 100 scholarly articles. His major interests now include artificial intelligence, artificial life, and its relationship to human consciousness. He is an expert with computers, co-founding the Curricular Software Studio at Tufts University and designing computer museum exhibits. He is currently the director of Tufts' Center for Cognitive Studies.

Looking Further: Links and References

The following links and references are useful in the study of noted modern theorists that have been influential in the further development of evolutionary theory.

• Books
  
  
  • Many authors' major books are referenced in the text. If you are looking for a different work or would like to see all of an author's books, please search on that author on Amazon.com.

• Websites
  • Stephen Jay Gould
  • Interview with Niles Eldredge
  • William Hamilton Memorial Website
  • Mavericks of the Mind - see Robert Trivers
  • Edward Wilson
  • Richard Dawkins - Biography and Background from The World of Richard Dawkins
  • Daniel Dennett
  • Steven Pinker
  • 3rd Culture Talks with Steven Pinker
  • Great Thinkers and Visionaries
  • A History of Evolutionary Thought
  • Timeline of Evolutionary Thought
  • Lefalophodon: A History of Evolutionary Biology Web Site

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