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Thirteen Misunderstandings About Natural Selection

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Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science

Introduction

The theory of evolution by natural selection is the unifying paradigm of biology and indeed of all the life sciences – it explains and integrates a huge diversity of known findings and predicts an astonishing number of new ones (Alcock 2009; Coyne 2009). It has been famously suggested that nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution (Dobzhansky 1973). Prominent philosopher Daniel Dennett has said “If I were to give an award for the single best idea anyone ever had, I’d give it to Darwin, ahead of even Newton and Einstein and everyone else” (Dennett 1996, p. 21). Indeed, scientists, historians of science, and philosophers of science generally regard evolutionary theory as one of the most predictively powerful and explanatorily successful theories in the history of science (Alcock 2009; Coyne 2009; Dawkins 2009; Dennett 1996).

And yet, despite the simplicity of the core idea and its universal acceptance in the scientific community (e.g., Pew Research...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, CO, USA

    Laith Al-Shawaf

  2. Department of Economics, Lebanese American University, Beirut, Lebanon

    Kareem Zreik

  3. The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA

    David M. Buss

Authors
  1. Laith Al-Shawaf
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  2. Kareem Zreik
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  3. David M. Buss
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kareem Zreik .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

  2. Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA

    Karin Machluf

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Al-Shawaf, L., Zreik, K., Buss, D.M. (2018). Thirteen Misunderstandings About Natural Selection. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2158-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2158-2

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Thirteen Misunderstandings About Natural Selection
    Published:
    12 June 2018

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2158-2

  2. Original

    Thirteen Misunderstandings About Natural Selection
    Published:
    02 March 2018

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2158-1

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