Kuhn's Lens on Evolution's Horizon: Epigenetics, the EES, and the Challenge to the Modern Synthesis
"We argue that there are compelling reasons to think that both frameworks (MS & EES) are incommensurable, thereby leaving the door open for future philosophical explorations." -Incommensurability in Evolutionary Biology: The Extended Evolutionary Synthesis Controversy Thomas Kuhn's seminal work, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, posits that science progresses not just through gradual accumulation of knowledge, but through periodic paradigm shifts – fundamental changes in the conceptual frameworks, accepted theories, and methodologies that define a field. Applying Kuhn's lens to contemporary evolutionary biology offers a powerful framework for understanding the ongoing debates surrounding the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis (EES) and its relationship to the long-dominant paradigm of Neo-Darwinism (often termed the Modern Synthesis, MS). Central to this discussion is the burgeoning field of epigenetics, which presents phenomena that act as Kuhnian...