Toward a New Philosophy of Biology
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1988.
First edition. Signed by Ernst Mayr and inscribed to Stephen Jay Gould, "For Steve Gould in friendship and admiration [signed] Ernst." [xii], 564 pp. Original cloth and paper-covered boards. Fine in Near Fine dust jacket with light rubbing to edges.
A superb association copy linking two titans of evolutionary biology, whose lives and work were deeply intertwined. Gould was once Mayr's course assistant at Harvard; Gould would go onto teach at Harvard himself as Mayr became a professor emeritus. Most importantly, in 1972 Gould (along with Niles Eldredge) published the groundbreaking article "Punctuated equilibria: an alternative to phyletic gradualism." It introduced the concept of punctuated equilibrium that built on Mayr's earlier theories of genetic revolutions by allopatric and peripatric speciation as applied to the fossil record, overturning the previous orthodoxy that evolution was gradual and consistent. As Mayr would later write, "Whether one accepts this theory, rejects it, or greatly modifies it, there can be no doubt that it had a major impact on paleontology and evolutionary biology." It was also the vindication of Mayr's life's work. This collection of 28 essays is, in his words, an endeavor "to strengthen the bridge between biology and philosophy, and point to the new direction in which a new philosophy of biology will move."
Price: $4,000.00