English

Noun

evolutionary theory ‎(plural evolutionary theories)

1. (biology) A theory of evolution, especially the scientific theory of evolution through natural selection.
2. (by extension) Any model of disequilibrium or accumulating change.
   • 1962, Clifford D. Simak, The Solar System: Our New Front Yard, page 70:

     Opposed to the evolutionary theory of the universe is the theory of the steady state universe.

   • 2015, Jorge Turmo Arnal, Financial Crisis and the Failure of Economic Theory, page 155:

     A more refined version is the concept of restless capitalism developed by Metcalfe, working on the evolutionary theory of economic change by Nelson and Winter. In both cases, the economy is in a state of disequilibrium all of the time.

Hyponyms

• (biology): natural selection, transmutationism, saltationism, transformationism, transformism, orthogenesis, Lamarckism

Translations