Falconer, Darwin y el Derecho Anglosajón: Como Repensar la “Estructura” de la Teoría Evolutiva

In his Opus Magnum, The Structure of Evolutionary Theory, Stephen Jay Gould argued that there were two ways to represent the structure of the theory: a hierarchical and foundational form, well represented by the Scottish Paleontologist Hugh Falconer and a more flexible and open-ended form, defended by Darwin himself. In the light of more recent literature, this paper aims to reconsider Gould’s proposal and address the following question: Should the structure of evolutionary theory be represented in Falconerian, Darwinian, Gouldian or in any other form? First of all, we clarify what we mean with the terms “theory”, “structure” and “content”. Secondly, by using the Common Law system metaphorically, we elucidate in what sense the structure of evolutionary theory can be considered a coherent and relatively unified conceptual entity (and not a set of fragmented models). And, finally, we defend the hypothesis that the coherency and articulation of the theoretical structure does not require a hierarchical order or organization.