Ed Pollak wrote: You have one thing completely wrong, Michael. Evolution by natural selection has nothing to do "increasing species' survival." Natural selection acts to increase or decrease the frequency of genes. It does so by acting on the survival and reproduction of individuals and their close kin. A minority opinion suggests it act on groups of unrelated kin. But to my knowledge, no one seriously suggests that natural selection acts on species. Besides, "species" is a somewhat arbitrary concept, a scientific attempt to use a binomial system to describe a continuous world. This notion of natural selection favoring "survival of the species" is, IMO, one of the most ubiquitous and persistent misconceptions in the modern history of science. (The best treatment of this topic I've ever seen is Dawkins' "The Selfish Gene.")
I guess Darwin titling his classic text, On the Origin of Species, probably didn't help clarify this point very much. Rick Dr. Rick Froman, Chair Division of Humanities and Social Sciences Professor of Psychology Box 3055 John Brown University 2000 W. University Siloam Springs, AR 72761 rfro...@jbu.edu (479)524-7295 http://tinyurl.com/DrFroman "That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood....Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet. These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land - a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights." Barack Obama, Inaugural Address, January 20, 2009 From: Pollak, Edward [mailto:epol...@wcupa.edu] Sent: Monday, April 27, 2009 8:43 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: [tips] Uneasiness with Evolutionary Psychology You have one thing completely wrong, Michael. Evolution by natural selection has nothing to do "increasing species' survival." Natural selection acts to increase or decrease the frequency of genes. It does so by acting on the survival and reproduction of individuals and their close kin. A minority opinion suggests it act on groups of unrelated kin. But to my knowledge, no one seriously suggests that natural selection acts on species. Besides, "species" is a somewhat arbitrary concept, a scientific attempt to use a binomial system to describe a continuous world. This notion of natural selection favoring "survival of the species" is, IMO, one of the most ubiquitous and persistent misconceptions in the modern history of science. (The best treatment of this topic I've ever seen is Dawkins' "The Selfish Gene.") --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
