L’évolution du vivant, un progrès ?

The evolution of life is generally viewed as progress toward something better. Thus, ancient life forms are described as primitive, imperfect, or inferior. These ancient forms were succeeded by forms said to be more “evolved,” closer to perfection—in a word: superior. Today’s living world epitomizes this process, displaying a diversity ranging from inferior beings to ever more superior ones, with humans more or less occupying the top of the pyramid.more or less accepted at the top of the pyramid. We will return to the history of this idea of progress, whose roots go back to antiquity, long before the concept of the evolution of life even arose. We will see how it naturally merged with the idea of evolution, and how it reached its peak in the 20th century. Finally, we will see why this millennia-old idea, which permeates our culture—including part of the academic world—must, quite simply, disappear from scientific discourse! By **Maxime Hervé**, lecturer in animal biology at the University of Rennes and affiliated with the Institute of Genetics, Environment, and Plant Protection.