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Abstract

Ernst Mayr is known as the premier champion for Darwinian evolution, and his career has centered on working out the biological causes of speciation and in extending and updating Darwin's "long argument" while showing that there really is "grandeur in this view of life." Mayr himself will say that he has given little attention to embryology. In part this is because embryological explanation appeals to what Mayr has long called proximate causation. In part it is because he sees embryology as supporting rather than in any way calling into question or demanding interpretation within an evolutionary framework. Yet with the rise of evo-devo research programs, it is worth reflecting on the role of embryology and individual development in relationship to evolution. This paper explores Mayr's reflections on that relationship.