The origin of natural selection on the spot
- Autores: Koichiro Matsuno
- Localización: Ludus vitalis: revista de filosofía de las ciencias de la vida = journal of philosophy of life sciences = revue de philosophie des sciences de la vie, ISSN 1133-5165, Vol. 18, Nº. 33, 2010, págs. 5-12
- Idioma: inglés
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Resumen
Darwinian natural selection is an incontestable principle of evolutionary processes, as epitomized in the form of differential reproduction of heritable traits. Still, it remains open as to how each of the reproduction and heritable traits could emerge on a material and empirical ground. Addressing the issue of the origin of natural selection focuses upon some physical and chemical processes underlying biology, without smuggling those components and structures already established in the discipline. One candidate for such enterprise is the evolutionary occurrence of a cycle of chemical reactions functioning as a heat engine, a harbinger organization exclusively within physical and material origins. Heat engines of natural origin are functional both in maintaining the internal tendency for feeding upon energetic resources and in utilizing for itself the resources taken. Inevitable limitedness of available energetic resources puts the faster heat engines in resource in-take and more efficient in its utilization on a more evolutionarily advantageous cutting edge. Heat engines of a natural kind that are already selective in their operation can serve as evolutionary precursors of biological organizations subject to natural selection.
