Development and lessons of evolutionism

The present crisis of evolutionism was predictable from the very beginning, since the preformationist model of development underlying the idea of discrete heredity contradicts the systemic properties of ontogenesis. Accordingly, the principle of selection of heredity factors cannot explain evolution. The synthetic theory based on this principle contains insoluble contradictions in its key notions. According to the alternative epigenetic theory based on the integrity of living organization, heredity is a product of selection and expresses teleonomic directiveness of development toward a stable final state. Unification of the genetic concept of evolution with recognition of the integrity of development is principally impossible. The cause of dominance of genetic views on evolution lies in their correspondence to the mechanistic tradition of the 18–19th centuries, rather than in their logical substantiation. For the same reason, the evolutionary biology as a whole tends to equate particular linear dependences with the laws of evolution. Following this path in search for “new evolutionary synthesis” invites a priori its failure. Evolutionary interpretation of genetic generalizations is only possible on the basis of their description in terms of development.