On the causal efficacy of natural selection: A response to Richards' critique of the standard interpretation.
Given the amount of literature devoted to the reasoning used in Darwin's Origin of Species, an interpretation seeking to revise the standard take on Darwin's methodology is unexpected. Yet, Richards (1997, 1998, 2005) challenges the view that Darwin drew an analogy in the Origin on the grounds that such a strategy could not support the possibility of a new species emerging. I suggest, however, that how one interprets causal efficacy is intimately connected with Darwin's use of analogy. A more robust conception of natural selection, as found in the Origin, supports the standard interpretation, significantly weakening Richards' charge of a paradox.
Dept. of Philosophy, Univ. of Washington, 384 Savery Hall, Box 353350, Seattle, WA 98195, United States. Electronic address: weebs@uw.edu.
Andrea
A
Sullivan-Clarke
D005075:Biological Evolution; D001695:Biology / Q000379:methods*; D034462:Dissent and Disputes; D008093:Literature, Modern; D008128:Logic; D019365:Metaphor; D012641:Selection, Genetic; D013045:Species Specificity; D013850:Thinking
Alfred Russel Wallace; Analogy; Argumentation; Causal efficacy; Charles Darwin; Charles Lyell