Darwin's artificial selection as an experiment.
Darwin used artificial selection (ASN) extensively and variedly in his theorizing. Darwin used ASN as an analogy to natural selection; he compared artificial to natural varieties, hereditary variation in nature to that in the breeding farm; and he also compared the overall effectiveness of the two processes. Most historians and philosophers of biology have argued that ASN worked as an analogical field in Darwin's theorizing. I will argue rather that this provides a limited and somewhat muddled view of Darwinian science. I say "limited" because I will show that Darwin also used ASN as a complex experimental field. And I say "muddled" because, if we concentrate on the analogical role exclusively, we conceive Darwinian science as rather disconnected from contemporary conceptions of "good science". I will argue that ASN should be conceived as a multifaceted experiment. As a traditional experiment, ASN established the efficacy of Darwin's preferred cause: natural selection. As a non-traditional experiment, ASN disclosed the nature of a crucial element in Darwin's evolutionary mechanics: the nature of hereditary variation. Finally, I will argue that the experiment conception should help us make sense of Darwin's comments regarding the "monstrous" nature of domestic breeds traditionally considered to be problematic.
Department of Philosophy; Department of Biology & Wildlife, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, PO Box 755740, Fairbanks, AK 99775-5740, USA. ffemw@uaf.edu
Eduardo
E
Wilner
D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D001947:Breeding; D049672:History, 19th Century; D006801:Humans; D019021:Natural History / Q000266:history*; D012641:Selection, Genetic