Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in the Light of Ontogeny—Organism as Ontogeny, a New Paradigm for Science

Despite accumulated ontogenetic data, ontogeny is not considered as a basis for evolutionary process in the current paradigm. Biogenetic law undeservedly lost its significance in biology because of an initially inconsistent formulation and subsequent misinterpretations. Herein “biogenetic law” is proposed to be reformulated as ontogenetic law and its central importance for reconstruction of evolutionary history is confirmed. The term phylotypic period is revised and it is shown that every organism-ontogeny goes through a series of phyloperiods. The term “species” does not correspond to real ontogenetic-and-evolutionary processes. The concept of MOD (Multilevel Organismal Diversity) is presented as a substitute for the term “species”, and basic methodology for Mod-formulae is developed. A vast body of modern data in biology is not consistent with the conceptual basis of the current paradigm. Therefore, there is a need for transition from current rigid concepts of selection, genetic factors, strict phylogenetic dichotomy, and “species” to the new paradigm, which is implying flexible combination of genetic and epigenetic factors, dichotomy-and-reticulation evolutionary history and multilevel organismal diversity, which is maximally approach to the level of organism-ontogeny.