Modern evolutionism and the views of A. A. Lyubishchev on the problem of species

Abstract

With the advent of Darwinism, historical, functional, and adaptive approaches began to dominate in the theory of form. According to A. A. Lyubishchev: «Historical morphology devoured constructive». The tasks of morphology and taxonomy are closely related. Both disciplines should strive to identify the laws governing the diversity of the organic world. The nomogenetic component of evolution, the laws underlying the system, are reflected in morphology. And vice versa, the similarity of organs of different origins, facts of incomplete homology, pre-adaptation of forms, a huge number of parallelisms and many other morphological factors prove not only the existence of laws of form, but also the nomogenetic component of evolution. Despite the heterogeneity and exceptional complexity in the structure of organisms, there is a recurrence of similar forms that penetrates the entire systematics, suggesting that the forms of organisms are not epiphenomenons of a complex structure. An excellent example of regular variability is the Law of homologous series of hereditary variability by N. I. Vavilov: «knowing what mutational changes occur in individuals of any species, one can foresee that the same mutations in similar conditions will arise in related species and genera.» For A. A. Lyubishchev, the main components of evolution were: 1) tychogenetic (evolution based on random, unforeseen mutations); 2) nomogenetic (the presence of firm laws of development and limited form formation); 3) ectogenetic (factors external to organisms); and 4) telogenetic (active adaptation of organisms). At present, the study of architectonics and promorphology is coming to the fore, i.e. symmetry of organisms.