Holistic Darwinism

Holistic Darwinism is not a pants-wetting Creationist theory with a subtle title, but rather a step towards a new paradigm shift in the theory of evolution. The underlying principles of how evolution is coming to be perceived still very much follows Darwinian lines, but looks at the functional relationships between units, rather than the individual units themselves. A.K.A: Holistic Darwinism is the marriage counselling offered towards the dysfunctionally synergistic scientific community. One principle behind it is that no gene is an island; the development of chromosomes may have involved symbiotic processes for instance. Indeed, surprisingly, despite the conservative, rather bland and unimaginative nature of milllions of years of evolution, it is argued that the process is not so simple as we first speculated 200 years ago, before the industrial revolution or the invention of the television and subsequent devolution of Man.

It has actually been surmised by some members of the scientific community that the strong social cooperation between human enclaves is what gave our species the competitive edge, rather than the discreet physical advances of bipedalism, big brains etc.

Holistic Darwinism cold shoulders the topic of selfish genes in isolation to look at the dynamic evolution of living systems in their entireties, alongside the relationships and adaptations that occur as a product of environmental stresses and reproduction. It also focuses on the relatively newly-appreciated importance of symbiogenesis; behavioural, cognitive and social levels as strikes of creativity in evolution, dwarfing Darwin's original focus on mutation and genetic recombination.

In a nutshell, Holistic Darwinism provides a thicker, stronger base of theory to suggest that humans, as with every other species, is strongly concerned with the core drive for a little 'slap and tickle,' that we may spawn more crotch goblins unto the world. Essentially, it provides a better stronghold for biopolitics than the selfish gene focus of neo Darwinism.

The basic message of Holistic Darwinism, this uprising paradigm shift for how we perceive the evolution of our species and the wider hierarchy spanning the planet? We are all animals, and we have the drive to act like it. Economics, politics, their systems, should be approached from a biopolitical/evolutionary standpoint. After spending years focussing on how different each species is, and gradually shifting back to how each species is not, perhaps such a shift in perspective would re-shuffle how our social systems are operated. And about time. The planet and our species is in a bit of a shonky place right now anyway.

Maybe we shouldn't listen to Darwin either. The dude had ten kids with his cousin.


For more reading: Corning, P. 2008. Holistic Darwinism The new evolutionary paradigm and some implications for political science. Politics and the Life Sciences, 27(1):22-54.


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