Neo-Darwinism and Evo-Devo: An Argument for Theoretical Pluralism in Evolutionary Biology

There is an ongoing debate over the relationship between so-called neo-Darwinism and evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo) that is motivated in part by the possibility of a theoretical synthesis of the two (e.g., Amundson 2005; Brigandt and Love 2010; Laubichler 2010; Minelli 2010; Pigliucci and Müller 2010). Through analysis of the terms and arguments employed in this debate, I argue that an alternative line of argument has been missed. Specifically, I use the terms of this debate to argue that a relative significance issue (Beatty 1995, 1997) exists and reflects a theoretical pluralism that is likely to remain.