De-Darwinization

De-Darwinization is a concept in evolutionary biology and philosophy of science that describes the suppression of Darwinian processes (variation, heritability, and differential fitness) at a lower level of organization to enable the emergence of a new, higher-level evolutionary individual. In essence, for a collective (like a multicellular organism) to become a primary unit of selection, its components (the cells) must lose some of their capacity to evolve independently.

The term was coined by philosopher Peter Godfrey-Smith. The process is considered a key component of major evolutionary transitions, particularly the evolution of multicellularity and eusociality.

Origin of the Term

Peter Godfrey-Smith introduced the concept in