hologenesis
(hɒləʊˈdʒɛnɪsɪs)
[ad. It. ologenesi: see holo- and -genesis.]
The name of a theory of evolution first propounded by D. Rosa (in Ologenesi (1918)), and later adopted by G. Montandon (in L'Ologenèse humaine (1928)) to account for the origin of human races.
| [1929 Nature 11 May 709/1 The theory of evolution which he [i.e. G. Montandon] applies is that formulated by Prof. Rosa of Modêna in 1918 and named by its originator ‘ologenesi’.] 1931 Ibid. 12 Sept. 430/1 Having reached maturation, the germ plasm of the species undergoes a sudden change whereby the mother species suddenly gives rise to two daughter species... The daughter species then set out to unfold their determinants, and if the environment is favourable—for environment and selection play their part in the theory of hologenesis—then maturation stages are again reached and a further dichotomy with the production of a new species takes place. 1959 R. Altevogt tr. Rensch's Evol. above Species Level iv. 58 Rosa advanced a theory of ‘hologenesis’ according to which dichotomic branchings necessarily proceed in predetermined directions. 1959 B. Wall tr. Teilhard de Chardin's Phenomenon of Man iii. i. 187 Man, according to these authorities, must have started simultaneously in several regions on the ‘anthropoid layer’ of the Pliocene era... The idea involves ‘hologenesis’ and therefore polycentricity. |
Hence hologeˈnetic a.
| 1936 Nature 27 June 1055/1 An exposition of the hologenetic point of view in the origin and distribution of races. 1948 A. L. Kroeber Anthropol. (ed. 2) iv. 170 The hologenetic theory makes a blanket assumption in advance instead of trying genuinely to investigate each case and then seeing whether there is a common principle in them all. |