Metodo

International Studies in Phenomenology and Philosophy

Series | Book | Chapter

209612

The arrival of the fittest what?

Thomas A.C. Reydon

pp. 223-237

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.

Publication details

Published in:

Dieks Dennis, Hartmann Stephan, Uebel Thomas, Weber Marcel, González Wenceslao J. (2011) Explanation, prediction, and confirmation. Dordrecht, Springer.

Pages: 223-237

DOI: 10.1007/978-94-007-1180-8_15

Full citation:

Reydon Thomas A.C. (2011) „The arrival of the fittest what?“, In: D. Dieks, S. Hartmann, T. Uebel, M. Weber & W. J. González (eds.), Explanation, prediction, and confirmation, Dordrecht, Springer, 223–237.