Gould and Lewontin against the adaptacionist program

Abstract

In their classic paper, Gould and Lewontin (1979) have put forward critical arguments not in all the cases clearly expounded - against the so called "adaptationist program". Since an "adaptation" in one of the most used senses of the term - refers to a feature whose fixation in a population is explained by natural selection, finding adaptations has been considered an heuristic that leads biologists in the application of the theory of evolution by natural selection, intending (a priori, without any restriction and in a kuhnean manner) to extend the application field of the theory. This work expects, briefly, but completely, to elucidate the critics that appear in the article in question, where different kinds of objections, including empirical, methodological, conceptual and pragmatical ones - though with overlapping -, are recognized. The scope of some of them is analyzed, and the potential usefulness for the philosophy of biology of conceptual explications as the ones offered here is stipulated.