Eolutionism: Present Approaches Eolutionism: Present Approaches Edited by WENCESLAO J. GONZALEZ General Editor Wenceslao J. Gonzalez EVOLUTIONISM: PRESENT APPROACHES Any form of reproduction, distribution, public communication or processing of this work can only be done with the permission of their owners, except where exempted by law. Contact CEDRO (Spanish Reprographic Rights Center, www.cedro.org) if you need to scan or photocopy any part of this work. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written consent of the owners of the copyright, including but not limited to, in any network or other electronic storage or transmission or broadcast for distance learning. Copyright © 2008 by Netbiblo Copyright © by Wenceslao J. Gonzalez NETBIBLO, S. L. C/. Rafael Alberti, 6 bajo izq. Sta. Cristina 15172 Oleiros (La Coruña) – Spain Tlf: +34 981 91 55 00 • Fax: +34 981 91 55 11 www.netbiblo.com [email protected] Member of European Union Publishers’ Forum ISBN: 978-0-9729892-8-2 Editorial Manager: Cristina Seco López Editor: Paola Paz Otero Production Management: Gesbiblo, S. L. First Published 2008 by Netbiblo, S.L. Contents 1. Context Evolutionism from a Contemporary Viewpoint: The Philosophical-Methodological Approach Wenceslao J. Gonzalez ........................................................................................................................... 3 ParT I: DARWIN AND EVOLUTIONISM 2. The Eolution of Darwinian Thought Experiments James G. Lennox .................................................................................................................................... 63 3. ‘Is a New and General Theory of Eolution Emerging?’ A Philosophical Appraisal of Stephen Jay Gould’s Ealuation of Contemporary Eolutionary Theory Jean Gayon............................................................................................................................................. 77 ParT II: EVOLUTIONISM and presenT BIOLogY 4. Thought Experiments in Eolutionary Biology Today James G. Lennox .................................................................................................................................... 109 5. The Species Concept in Eolutionary Biology: Current Polemics Alfredo Marcos ...................................................................................................................................... 121 ParT III: EVOLUTIONISM and ECONOMICS 6. Three Eolutionary Ideas in Economics: Population, Idle Curiosity and Technological Change Santiago Lopez Garcia .......................................................................................................................... 145 7. The Concept of Eolution in Hayek: Institutions, Social Order and Economic Process Jose Luis Ramos Gorostiza .................................................................................................................... 161 i Eolutionism: Present Approaches ParT IV: EPISTEMOLOGY AND EVOLUTIONISM 8. Biocosmological Eolutionism and Eolutionist Epistemology in Popper Juan Arana .............................................................................................................................................. 187 9. Rationality as Eolutionary Adaptation in Herbert A. Simon. A Comparison with Karl Popper and Reinhard Selten Francisco J. Castro ................................................................................................................................ 201 Index of Names ........................................................................................................................................... 225 Subject Index .............................................................................................................................................. 235 Context EVOLUTIONISM FROM A CONTEMPORARY VIEWPOINT: THE PHILOSOPHICAL-METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH WENceSLAO J. GONZALEZ From a contemporary viewpoint, evolutionism appears as a multifaceted realm. On the one hand, a historical analysis reveals a clear diversity of evolutionisms to be considered, where Darwinism is a key conception that was preceded and followed by other evolutionary views. On the other hand, a philosophical-methodological study of those evolutionisms —among them, the influential conception developed by Charles Darwin— has a richness that exceeds the contents of any standard book. In effect, evolutionism has a strong influence on science —above all biology— with philosophical consequences that are relevant for general philosophy and methodology of science as well as for special domains (philosophy of biology, philosophy of economics, etc.). In addition, evolutionism has an undeniable repercussion on central parts of philosophy, such as theory of knowledge, metaphysics, and ethics. In the face of this multifaceted realm of evolutionism, this chapter seeks to offer the context of the philosophical-methodological approach to evolutionism. It takes into account the main lines of the historical background and, thus, within the space available, there are two axes in this contextualization: 1) Diversity of evolutionisms: Towards a philosophical- methodological framework, which focuses on the historical analysis of evolutionism, emphasizing the existence of a diversity of evolutionary positions; and 2) From a philosophical view of nature to naturalism in philosophy, where philosophy appears also in different ways: a) the philosophical-methodological influences on Darwin’s approach; b) the early stages in Darwin’s philosophical influence; and c) contemporary philosophical significance of Darwinism. Later on, there is an explanation of the structure and genesis of the book as well as a bibliography on the topics discussed. 1. DIVERSITY OF EVOLUTIONISMS: TOWARDS A PHILOSOPHICAL-METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK “Evolutionism” is a polysemic term: its sense and reference varies according to the historical period and the school of thought (and sometimes in the same author from one stage of his life to another). 2 Besides the linguistic diversity, evolutionism also involves different realms because it embraces a wide variety of approaches both in science and in philosophy. Thus, evolutionism can be found in natural sciences —mainly in biology— as well as in social sciences, not only at the level of basic science (e.g., in palaeontology) but also in the stance of applied science (e.g., in evolutionary economics). In philosophy it appears in the discussion of theoretical issues (e.g., in metaphysics) and in the debates on practical matters (e.g., in ethics). 1 I am grateful to Jean Gayon for his comments on this paper. 2 This variety can be found in the list of publications offered in the bibliography of this chapter, where there is a distinction between Darwinism and other kinds of evolutionism. 3 4 Eolutionism: Present Approaches Initially “evolutionism” is a biological doctrine that started before Charles Robert Darwin (1809-1882), an author whose anniversaries —two centuries since his birthday and 150 years since his key book— should be kept in mind. According to Jean Gayon, “clustered around ‘evolution’ were, among others, the old theory of embryogenesis as the expansion of a preformed organism (this being the primary meaning of ‘evolution’ in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries); the associated theory of the pre-existence of germs, in connection with which the Swiss naturalist Charles Bonnet first applied ‘evolution’ not only to individual generation, but to the history of the successive appearance of species; the transcendental morphology of the nineteenth century, with its emphasis on parallelisms between embryogenesis and the graduated complexity of species (...).” 3 Generally, evolutionism was seen in the broad context of interest in some kind of progress. It received an impulse with Darwin’s views, principally those stated in The Origins of Species 4 and in The Descent of Man. 5 But evolutionism has numerous subsequent outlooks, some of them clearly different from his perspectives, even though he remains a key figure in the development of this conception. In addition, evolutionism became a philosophy in the relevant sense of rational reflection on reality as a whole 6 (natural, social and artificial). In this regard, it has influenced the main areas of philosophical research: theory of knowledge, metaphysics, ethics, etc. Among them, evolutionism has had a crucial role in general philosophy of science as well as in special domains of this realm (philosophy of biology, philosophy of economics, etc.). Besides biology, evolutionism has impinged on many scientific fields, which include a wide range of subjects within the social sciences: psychology, sociology, anthropology, economics, etc. Moreover, it can be affirmed that evolutionism —in general, and Darwinism, in particular— is also seen as an intellectual worldview that goes beyond the status of a scientific theory to attract the attention of many people. 7 From this point of view, it is rather obvious that evolutionism is embedded in cultural approaches (in literature, journalism, etc.) and has a prominent relevance in social discussions in some countries (especially, the United States) with repercussions on ordinary life (education, legislation, etc.). 8 3 GAYON, J., “From Darwin to Today in Evolutionary Biology,” in HODGE, J. and RADICK, G. (eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Darwin, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2003, p. 242. “In his