The post-Darwinist rhizome of life

Abstract

In 2009, with the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birthday, the concept of Darwinism became so popular that it was celebrated in most biological journals. However, the Darwinist theory of evolution is associated with the scientific knowledge and outdated beliefs of the 19th century. The theory is characterised by a description of life as a tree in which all living organisms are thought to have a single ancestor and where each node represents a common ancestor (Darwin's tree). 1 Darwin C On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. John Murray, London1859 Google Scholar Such a theory was characteristic of the vision comprising the hierarchy and dichotomy of the 19th century. The demonstration of species segregation with no crossing over was instrumental for later racist theories based on Darwin's work, called social Darwinism. The structure of our current knowledge base has changed substantially. The internet has been developed since 1989 and, according to theories proposed by post-modernist philosophers, 2 Deleuze G Guattari F Rhizome: introduction. Éd de Minuit, Paris, France1976 Google Scholar the giant Wikipedia encyclopaedia is more akin to a rhizome than a tree, the latter being more representative of the French encyclopaedia from the 18th century.