The last few decades have witnessed considerable advances in the production of explanatory patterns in evolutionary biology. Some authors have proposed to gather all these novelties in an Exthended Evolutionary Synthesis in order to update the Modern Synthesis. The approach followed in this project suggests that the appropriate way to handle this vaste range of evolutionary phenomena is to frame them into a hierarchical, complex, and pluralistic view.
Hierarchy Theory is an attempt to construct a general, unified theory of evolutionary biology, and to connect micro-evolutionary and macro-evolutionary fundamental issues. The explanatory models adopted by Hierarchy Theory could shed light upon new outstanding challenges such as the reconstruction of human biological and cultural evolution, investigating genes-culture coevolution.
The project will involve a network of institutions and scholars. The main results of the project will include an international multi-authored book, a set of peer-reviewed papers, an international dedicated website, two international meetings, and a final event of dissemination. An international enduring group of institutions and scholars devoted to the Hierarchy Approach to evolution, inclined to its extension to new interdisciplinary fields, will be established.
