title: A teleofunctional account of evolutionary mismatch.
abstract: When the environment in which an organism lives deviates in some essential way from that to which it is adapted, this is described as "evolutionary mismatch," or "evolutionary novelty." The notion of mismatch plays an important role, explicitly or implicitly, in evolution-informed cognitive psychology, clinical psychology, and medicine. The evolutionary novelty of our contemporary environment is thought to have significant implications for our health and well-being. However, scientists have generally been working without a clear definition of mismatch. This paper defines mismatch asdeviations in the environment that render biological traits unable, or impaired in their ability, to produce their selected effects(i.e., to perform their proper functions in Neander's sense). The machinery developed by Millikan in connection with her account of proper function, and with her related teleosemantic account of representation, is used to identify four major types, and several subtypes, of evolutionary mismatch. While the taxonomy offered here does not in itself resolve any scientific debates, the hope is that it can be used to better formulate empirical hypotheses concerning the effects of mismatch. To illustrate, it is used to show that the controversial hypothesis that general intelligence evolved as an adaptation to handle evolutionary novelty can, contra some critics, be formulated in a conceptually coherent way.
authors.affiliation: Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge, Free School Lane, Cambridge, CB2 3RH UK.
authors.forename: Nathan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Cofnas
keywords: Environment of evolutionary adaptedness; Evolution of intelligence; Evolutionary mismatch; Evolutionary novelty; Proper function; Teleosemantics