Abstract
Whence comes the evolution of biological order? Is the neo-Darwinian mechanism of variation/natural selection adequate for describing the evolution of all biological order, or are there additional organizing principles? This is a question that biologists have tried to address for decades, usually within the overall context of scientific realism, but no satisfactory organizing principle has emerged from all this research. In this chapter we will consider a radically new approach based on the idealist interpretation of quantum mechanics in which consciousness, not matter, is the ground of being. Thus, the question before us is, Can it be that consciousness is the organizing principle that is missing from the realist approach to the evolution of biological order?
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Bibliography
Dobzhansky, T. The Biology of Ultimate Concern. NY: New American Library, 1967.
Goswami, A. The Self-Aware Universe: How Consciousness Creates the Material World. NY: Tardier/Putnam, 1993.
Goswami, A. “Consciousness and Biological Order: Toward a Quantum Theory of Life and Its Evolution.‘Integrative Physiological and Behavioral Science, Vol. 32, pp. 86-100, 1997.
Kimura, M. The Neutral Theory of Molecular Evolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.
Lovelock, J.E. Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982.
Lovelock, J.E., and Margulis, L. In Global Ecology: Toward a Science of the Biosphere (M.B. Rambler, ed.). London: Jones and Bartlett, 1984.
Sheldrake, R. A New Science of Life. LA: Tarcher, 1981.
Simpson, G.G. The Major Features of Evolution. NY: Columbia University Press, 1953.
Wyller, A. The Creating Consciousness: Science as the Language of God. Denver, CO: MacMurray & Beck, 1999.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2001 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Goswami, A. (2001). The Quantum Theory of Punctuated Equilibrium. In: The Physicists’ View of Nature. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0527-3_29
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0527-3_29
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-0-306-46509-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-0527-3
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive