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Biological Adaptation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2022

Michael Ruse*
Affiliation:
University of Guelph

Extract

In successive issues of this journal Ronald Munson [2] and I [4] have made, quite independently, conflicting claims about the relationship between biological adaptation and biological function. I state, admittedly without proof, that “a functional statement in biology draws attention to the fact that what is under consideration is an adaptation or something which confers an ‘adaptive advantage’ on its possessor” ([4], p. 89). This was an identity claim. Munson claims, with proof, that “adaptation and function are not identical” ([2], p. 205). In this discussion note I want to examine the three arguments Munson gives in support of his claim, and I shall try to show that they do not hold.

Type
Discussion
Copyright
Copyright © 1972 by The Philosophy of Science Association

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References

REFERENCES

[1] Darwin, C. The Origin of Species. Edited by Burrow, J. W. Middlesex: Penguin, 1859, reprinted 1968.Google Scholar
[2] Munson, R.Biological Adaptation.” Philosophy of Science 38 (1971): 200215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[3] Romer, A. S. Man and The Vertebrates. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1941.Google Scholar
[4] Ruse, M.Functional Statements in Biology.” Philosophy of Science 38 (1971): 8795.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[5] Simpson, G. G. The Major Features of Evolution. New York: Columbia University Press, 1953.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[6] Williams, G. C. Adaptation and Natural Selection. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1966.Google Scholar
[7] Wynne-Edwards, V. C. Animal Dispersion in Relation to Social Behaviour. Edinburgh and London: Oliver and Boyd, 1962.Google Scholar