Adaptationism and Optimality

A systematic treatment of foundational, conceptual, and methodological issues surrounding the theory of adaptationism.

Steven Hecht Orzack (Edited by), Elliott Sober (Edited by)

9780521591669, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 11 June 2001

420 pages, 29 b/w illus. 6 tables
23.6 x 15.6 x 2.6 cm, 0.68 kg

The debate over the relative importance of natural selection as compared to other forces affecting the evolution of organisms is a long-standing and central controversy in evolutionary biology. The theory of adaptationism argues that natural selection contains sufficient explanatory power in itself to account for all evolution. However, there are differing views about the efficiency of the adaptation model of explanation. If the adaptationism theory is applied, are energy and resources being used to their optimum? This book presents an up-to-date view of this controversy and reflects the dramatic changes in our understanding of evolution that have occurred in the last twenty years. The volume combines contributions from biologists and philosophers, and offers a systematic treatment of foundational, conceptual, and methodological issues surrounding the theory of adaptationism. The essays examine recent developments in topics such as phylogenetic analysis, the theory of optimality and ess models, and methods of testing models.

Introduction
1. A likelihood framework for the phylogenetic analysis of adaptation David A. Baum and Michael J. Donoghue
2. Adaptation, phylogenetic inertia, and the method of controlled comparisons Steven Orzack and Elliott Sober
3. Optimality and phylogeny: a critique of current thought Hudson Kern Reeve and Paul W. Sherman
4. Fit of form and function, diversity of life, and procession of life as an evolutionary game Joel S. Brown
5. Optimality and evolutionary stability under short-term and long-term selection Ilan Eshel and Marcus W. Feldman
6. Selective regime and fig wasp sex ratios: towards sorting rigor from pseudo-rigor in tests of adaptation Edward Allen Herre, Carlos A. Machado, and Stuart A. West
7. Is optimality over the hill? The fitness landscapes of idealized organisms George W. Gilchrist and Joel G. Kingsolver
8. Adaptation, optimality, and the meaning of phenotypic variation in natural populations Kenneth J. Halama and David N. Reznick
9. Adaptationism, optimality models, and tests of adaptive scenarios Peter Abrams
10. Adaptation and development: on the lack of common ground Ron Amundson
11. Three kinds of adaptationism Peter Godfrey-Smith
12. Adaptation, adaptationism, and optimality Egbert Giles Leigh, Jr.

Subject Areas: Biology, life sciences [PS], Philosophy of science [PDA]