Extended Phenotypes and Extended Organisms

Phenotype, whether conventional or extended, is defined as a reflection of an underlying genotype. Adaptation and the natural selection that follows from it depends upon a progressively harmonious fit between phenotype and environment. There is in Richard Dawkins’ notion of the extended phenotype a paradox that seems to undercut conventional views of adaptation, natural selection and adaptation. In a nutshell, if the phenotype includes an organism’s environment, how then can the organism adapt to itself? The paradox is resolvable through a physiological, as opposed to a genetic, theory of natural selection and