Ontogeny and Phylogeny (Paperback)

by Stephen Jay Gould (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
Did you add a word to the title? Like a subliminal message, "recapitulates" will come reflexively to the mind of readers exposed to a biology course at one time or another. And indeed it is the point of this grand tome, a tour de force, to resurrect and revitalize - albeit with altered meaning - a concept that sent 19th-century scientists to the battlements. The argument that the German anatomist Ernst Haeckel formulated as a biogenetic law was that in embryological growth (ontogeny) organisms repeat the forms achieved by adult species which appeared earlier in evolution (phylogeny). Thus, the human embryo shows the gill slits of an adult fish at a certain stage. Developments in Mendelian genetics and biology demolished the theory. Yet the tantalizing analogy was never far from the surface, as Gould amusingly notes: when queried, colleagues would, figuratively, look both ways and whisper that they did think there was something in it. Gould's "something" has to do with the timing of development. He supports the neoteny theory that species may retain juvenile traits in maturity. Retardation in human evolution may account for the hypertrophy of the brain, erect posture, frontal copulation, and a host of other treats frequently adduced as quintessentially "us." These ideas are presented in detail and scholarly length. There is a rich historical development as well as the appeal to contemporary geneticists and molecular biologists who have traced the chromosomal similarities between apes and humans or who have studied regulatory genes and the timing of gene expression. The more sophisticated yearn for a skeleton key (for which Gould's popular writings, above, may help enormously). Nevertheless the ideas are beautifully worked out and elegantly expressed. It will be exciting to see whether once again biologists rush to the battlements. (Kirkus Reviews) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review
Steve Jay Gould has given us a superb analysis of the use of ontogenetic analogy, the controversies over ontogeny and phylogeny, and the classification of the different processes observable in comparing different ontogenies. His massive book (in each chapter of which there is as much material as in whole books by other writers) is both a historical exposition of the whole subject of ontogeny and phylogeny, and...a fascinating attempt at a functional interpretation of those phylogenetic alterations that involve changes of timing developmental processes in related organisms.
--A. J. Cain (Nature )

In Gould's...new book...Ontogeny and Phylogeny, a scholarly study of the theory of recapitulation, he not only explains scientific theory but comments on science itself, with clarity and wit, simultaneously entertaining and teaching...[This] is a rich book.
--James Gorman (New York Times Book Review )

It is rare indeed to read a new book and recognize it for a classic...Gould has given biologists a new way to see the organisms they study. The result is a major achievement.
--S. Rachootin (American Scientist )

Gould's book--pervaded, I should say, with an erudition and felicity of style that make it a delight to read--is a radical work in every sense...It returns one's attention to the roots of our science--the questions about the great pageant of evolution, the marvelous diversity of form that our theory is meant to explain.
--D. Futuyma (Quarterly Review of Biology )

A distinguished and pioneering work.
--Ernst Mayr

This [is a] fat, handsome book crammed with provocative ideas...Ontogeny and Phylogeny is an important and thoughtful book which will be a valuable source of ideas and controversies for anyone interested in evolutionary or developmental biology.
--Matt Cartmill (Science )

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Product Details

• Paperback: 520 pages
• Publisher: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press (January 17, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674639413
• ISBN-13: 978-0674639416
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #141,036 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Deeply knowledgeable, thoughtful, and philosophical, November 3, 2001

By	Tom Lum Forest (Forest Grove, OR USA) - See all my reviews

This is one of the three most influential books I've read in the last 20 years.

"The world was a better place when I was young," "Kids today are worse than they were 20 years ago," are two of the more egregious examples I hear of people confusing ontogeny (development of an individual) with phylogeny (development of a type or collective). The world has always been a complicated and widely mixed placed. It is far more likely for an individual's perceptions to change in the course of a lifetime than the world that we perceive.

Gould's essays (and books collecting them) are pleasant bits of fluff that entertainingly (and sneakily) deliver well-informed and timely bits of science. "Ontogeny and Philogeny" goes the next level down, using interesting bits of (mostly) science to deliver well-informed and timely bits of philosophy.

I bought this book because I was curious about the relationship between ontogeny and philogeny. "Does ontogeny recapitulate phylogeny?" was on my mind. No, says Gould. Better, he describes what that relationship is. Along the way, he explains how humans are differentiated from other species (a topic well expanded by Jared Diamond in "The Third Chimpanzee").

Gould starts with the history of science (Lamarck, Ernst Haeckel); philosophy (Anaximander, Aristotle); and psychology (Cesare Lombroso; Freud). He starts by showing the history of the perceived relationship between phylogeny and ontogeny. The illustrative bits of science follow as he discusses heterochrony and paedomophosis, showing how phylogeny relates to ontogeny, which I will grossly oversimplify: ontogeny selectively draws from phylogeny with occasional complete departures that may or may not be helpful (which is also true of the retained bits of phylogeny). The past may be selectively retained, but retaining one part does not necessitate the retention of all parts or even the relationship between the retained parts. Gould takes 409 carefully reasoned and well-written pages to get there. It's worth the trip.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Relevant parts could be condensed to 50 pages, March 7, 1999

By A Customer

First, let me praise the book for bringing the very important issue of developmental regulation in macroevolution to the biological community and to the public. However, to note a caveat, Gavin de Beer did much the same thing with "Embryos and Ancestors" decades earlier, and in a way surprisingly more appropriate and relevant to those asking specific biological questions. The main problem with Ontogeny and Phylogeny is that the bulk of it (at least for the first half) is occupied by a collection of esoteric curiosities of little interest to most scientists: Freudian psychoanalysis, educational policy, pre-Aristotelian teleology, and 19th century teratology, craniometry, and phrenology. This material may be good material for Gould's Natural History columns or for coffee house talk, but not for an ostensibly technical work on evolutionary biology. Basically, most readers share my opinion that the important biological points which lie buried in the book could have been presented and done adequate justice to in a book one quarter the size of Ontogeny and Phylogeny. A message to all writers of scientific books: get to the point!!

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ontogeny and Phylogeny, June 2, 2002

By	Joe Zika "Khemprof" (Cincinnati, Ohio) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Ontogeny and Phylogeny by Stephen Jay Gould is an enlightening book filled with facts, history, knowledge, science, sociology, biology and mixed with this is the Gould Factor.

By this, Gould Factor, what I mean is this. There are illustrative bits woven into the tapestry of this scientific work. I always liked how Gould did this... always bringing more information into the mix. Then, when you think you know how he is going to arrive at the conclusion he brings you into a whole different level of thinking and you become enlightened and then, only then, do you see... you arrived at the conclusion... via the Gould Factor.

Now, some may say that, why doesn't he get to the point... ah those are the impatient ones... as knowledge to be wisdon has to be appreciated... thought through to the end and only then... will the enlightenment be appreciated. The same has to be said about Ontogeny and Phylogeny, as the development of the individual leads to the development of the whole (type).

Gould's clever brilliance is evidenced here and you'll see him working the esoterics, bringing the reader on, interlacing ideas, and ultimately to the conclusion. A learning process that is evident here as only Gould could do. Gould also brings the reader a broad base of knowledge at the begining forming a foundation. From this foundation, the book begins to construct the major points of Gould's perseptiveness, then later we get the major point of the work.

I found the book to be very well written with excellent documentation and a classic of felicity of style.