Adaptationism and the adaptive landscape

Jon F. Wilkins, Peter Godfrey-Smith
2008 Biology & Philosophy  
Debates over adaptationism can be clarified and partially resolved by careful consideration of the 'grain' at which evolutionary processes are described. The framework of 'adaptive landscapes' can be used to illustrate and facilitate this investigation. We argue that natural selection may have special status at an intermediate grain of analysis of evolutionary processes. The cases of sickle-cell disease and genomic imprinting are used as case studies.
doi:10.1007/s10539-008-9147-5 fatcat:mvhcigzs7ffg7p6nwonamvnz44