ABSTRACT
The explanatory schemes derived from classical physics and from its atemporal characteristics are inadequate for the theory of evolution. Evolutionary theory takes the form of a truly historical science with a specific rationality and explanatory system. The debate as to the constructive character of evolution appears closely connected with the continuist or discontinuist debates that occurred from time to time. The problem of evolutionary innovations can be adequately tackled by taking note of the non-simple and non-univocal nature of the interactions which determine evolutionary processes. The contemporary transformation of evolutionist thought shares the outlined fundamental epistemological framework. The omnipresence of natural selection as a factor of evolutionary mutation is also an issue in the so-called neutralist conception which, in the course of the seventies, was advanced especially by Motoo Kimura. The studies in the field of biological evolution in recent years have discussed the degree of corroboration or falsification of saltationist hypotheses.
