The Architecture of Evolvability: The Collected Works of Gunter P. Wagner

Graduate / Professional

This graduate seminar explores the major intellectual contributions of Gunter P. Wagner, Alison Richard Professor Emeritus of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and one of the most influential evolutionary theorists of the past four decades. Wagner reshaped how biologists think about evolvability, modularity, homology, and developmental constraint by integrating population genetics, developmental biology, comparative methods, and philosophy of biology. The seminar examines his foundational analyses of variational properties and the genotype–phenotype map; his formal treatments of modularity and character identity; and his collaborative work on innovation, robustness, and the origin of novel traits. Through close reading of primary literature, students engage with Wagner’s efforts to unify theory, comparative biology, and molecular approaches into a coherent account of how variation is structured and how biological novelty arises. Designed for students interested in the theoretical foundations of evolutionary biology, the seminar centers on the enduring tension between constraint and innovation in complex biological systems. T 1:30pm-3:25pm