Adaptationism and Trait Individuation

Logical adaptationism

e Stance, p. 333). But although such a discovery settle the empirical question for you, Searle must that it would not settle it for any other observer! just a very obvious empirical fact, Searle claims, ·ganic brains can produce intentionality, but one rs how he can have established this empirical fact, >s left-banders' brains, for instance, only mimic the l powers of brains that produce genuin...

Adaptationism and Optimality

Biological Levers and Extended Adaptationism

Two critiques of simple adaptationism are distinguished: anti-adaptationism and extended adaptationism. Adaptationists and anti-adaptationists share the presumption that an evolutionary explanation should identify the dominant simple cause of the evolutionary outcome to be explained. A consideration of extended-adaptationist models such as coevolution, niche construction and extended phenotypes...

Generic Properties of Evolutionary Games and Adaptationism*

Adaptationism maintains that natural selection is the principal factor causing evolutionary change. This statement is in need of qualification. Indeed, Peter Godfrey-Smith finds several possible usages of the term adaptationism. Steven Orzack and Elliott Sober argue that for adaptationism to be an interesting research program it has to be given in a reasonably strong form. Such a reasonably str...

Fodor on Cognition, Modularity, and Adaptationism*

This paper critically examines Jerry Fodor’s latest attacks on evolutionary psychology. Contra Leda Cosmides and John Tooby, Fodor argues (i) there is no reason to think that human cognition is a Darwinian adaptation in the first place, and (ii) there is no valid inference from adaptationism about the mind to massive modularity. However, Fodor maintains (iii) that there is a valid inference in ...