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The Arrival of the Fittest What?

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Explanation, Prediction, and Confirmation

Part of the book series: The Philosophy of Science in a European Perspective ((PSEP,volume 2))

Abstract

Biologists and philosophers of biology usually use the phrase “the arrival of the fittest” in the context of discussions on the following question: does natural selection only explain why some organismal traits (i.e., adaptations) are preserved and spread while other traits are not, or does it explain their origin too? In these discussions, the mechanism of natural selection is often compared to a sieve through which some organism or trait types pass while others do not. In the present paper, I shall raise two worries with respect to this analogy and attempt to show that using the analogy does more harm than good when one wants to know what reference to natural selection can explain.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Philosophy & Center for Philosophy and Ethics of Science (ZEWW), Leibniz Universität Hannover, Im Moore 21, 30167, Hannover, Germany

    Thomas A. C. Reydon

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  1. Thomas A. C. Reydon
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Correspondence to Thomas A. C. Reydon .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Inst. History & Foundations of Science, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands

    Dennis Dieks

  2. , Faculty of Humanities, University of A Coruña, Dr. Vazquez Cabrera street, w/n, Ferrol, 15.403, Spain

    Wenceslao J. Gonzalez

  3. PO Box 90153, Tilburg, 5000 LE, Netherlands

    Stephan Hartmann

  4. , Philosophy School of Social Science, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, Montserrat

    Thomas Uebel

  5. Universitätsstr. 10, Konstanz, 78464, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

    Marcel Weber

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Reydon, T.A.C. (2011). The Arrival of the Fittest What? . In: Dieks, D., Gonzalez, W., Hartmann, S., Uebel, T., Weber, M. (eds) Explanation, Prediction, and Confirmation. The Philosophy of Science in a European Perspective, vol 2. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1180-8_15

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