"If the history of Western thought has anything to teach us, it is the protean nature of all theories, including evolutionary theory. Scientific theories can be and are rejected, but this process is far from easy. Any criticism of the synthetic theory that turned out to have some substance was subsumed in a modified version of this theory. Instead of being a weakness, this ability to change is one of the chief strengths of the synthetic theory of evolution. As in the case of species, scientific theories evolve."
From "History of Evolutionary Thought" by David L. Hull: the first of ten Overview Essays in Encyclopedia of Evolution, Oxford University Press, Mark Pagel, ed., Vol. I (2002), pp. E15-16. See article "Neo-Darwinism" in Vol. II of this Encylopedia, to which Hull's essay refers the reader, for additional information on synthetic theory. See also overview essay "Macroevolution" by Stephen Jay Gould for detailed summary, in Vol. I.
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