Skip to main content
Log in

Adaptationism and the Logic of Research Questions: How to Think Clearly About Evolutionary Causes

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Biological Theory Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This article discusses various dangers that accompany the supposedly benign methods in behavioral evolutionary biology and evolutionary psychology that fall under the framework of “methodological adaptationism.” A “Logic of Research Questions” is proposed that aids in clarifying the reasoning problems that arise due to the framework under critique. The live, and widely practiced, “evolutionary factors” framework is offered as the key comparison and alternative. The article goes beyond the traditional critique of Stephen Jay Gould and Richard C. Lewontin, to present problems such as the disappearance of evidence, the mishandling of the null hypothesis, and failures in scientific reasoning, exemplified by a case from human behavioral ecology. In conclusion the paper shows that “methodological adaptationism” does not deserve its benign reputation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. See Rose and Lauder (1996) for some examples of the application of this evolutionary factors approach. Or Martins (2000), for some methodological details.

  2. Symons gives a variety of reasons against using correlation with fitness for detecting adaptations, and prefers evidence of design (1990). Thornhill (1990) provides another perspective of behavioral adaptationists.

  3. See Lewens (2009) for an extensive categorization of types of adaptationism. Amundson (2001) and Sansom (2003) have also emphasized the multiple nature of adaptationist questions and answers, but not in the way I do here.

  4. Martin Kreitman introduced a technique using DNA sequence data that same year that can create the statistical tests to discriminate between selection and drift (1983). Thank you to Michael Dietrich for highlighting this sequence.

  5. Note that it is not always true that to identify a trait’s function is to identify its selection pressure: commonly, for example, we have multilevel selection, such as family and kin selection, and there are multiple processes responsible for the trait’s form and function. The trait itself does not tell us how to describe its selection pressure, although the investigating biologist may play favorites about which process to privilege in his or her explanations (for examples, see Wade 2016).

  6. Buss et al. (1998) argued that this category is really “adaptations” in their destructive analysis of exaptation, while Reeve and Sherman argued that the past selective history of a trait should not be included in the notion of adaptation, which is based instead on current utility, exactly backwards from the Gould and Vrba’s, and many others’ definitions: “ask why certain traits predominate over conceivable others in nature, irrespective of the precise historical pathways leading to their predominance, and then infer evolutionary causation based on current utility” (1993, p. 1; in contrast, see Burian 1992 and West-Eberhard 1992; Lloyd and Gould ([2002]2014)).

  7. Godfrey-Smith offers three general categories of “adaptationism,” including, besides “methodological adaptationism,” “empirical adaptationism” and “explanatory adaptationism.” We will not be dealing with these others, except to note that the evolutionary factors framework is independent of any commitment regarding empirical (or “metaphysical”) adaptationism. That is, it does not matter how many adaptations actually exist in the world, with regard to the relative superiority of the framework in researching those adaptations and related traits. See also Lewens (2009).

  8. I would like to thank the first reviewer from Biological Theory for discussion on this issue, and for posing these questions.

  9. Andrews et al. claim that, “The point of disagreement [concerning adaptationism] centers around the probative value of the evidentiary standards that adaptationists use to classify a trait as an adaptation” (2002a, p. 493).

  10. Note that Williams, here, is just as strict, or stricter, than Gould and Lewontin in his requirements for assigning the status of “adaptation” to a trait. There is an open question regarding how to read Williams on this topic (Lloyd 2013).

  11. In contrast, Seger and Stubblefield (1996) find that the bias towards functions is what limits the number of traits that we can treat as adaptations, e.g., in clutch size in birds or in various life history traits. Thanks to Steve Downes for pointing this out.

  12. I do not mean to deny the common point about the division of scientific labor, by saying that it is a good idea for some to start by asking about the function of a trait. It would be more useful for a phylogeneticist to start by asking whether a trait is ancestral or derived, and more useful for a developmental biologist to ask how the trait is developed in the organism. (Thanks to James Griesemer.) See Beatty (1987). The question is: is it useful for anyone to be a methodological adaptationist rather than following an evolutionary factors approach?

  13. But note that there is a problem with our running definitions of “adaptation” and "function": the first generation feature, arising from exaptations, byproducts, spandrels, or any source—e.g., a change that provides additional protection, enables association with a new food source, or otherwise brings a new niche into existence — does not yet have a “function” under our chosen definition, because it has not yet had a chance to be selected. Thus, in the first generation, we cannot tell whether it is an exaptation or an adaptation, just that it is an aptation (Gould and Vrba 1982). See discussion of Reeve and Sherman’s definition of “adaptation,” based on current utility rather than historical function (1993) in footnote 6 and “The Onerous Burden of Proof” section, above. An approach from developmental byproducts and novelties might clarify the arena of problems. Thank you to Stuart Newman for this example.

  14. Thanks to Archie Fields III and Carla Fehr for discussion of this issue.

  15. Thanks to Michael Wade for this example.

  16. Interestingly, Symons identifies himself as an “adaptationist,” but an analysis of his research shows that he is not a methodological adaptationist in the Mayrian sense used in this paper, but rather an “adaptationist” following the path of the evolutionary factors framework’s first questions (see Symons 1990).

  17. While apparently most often these tissues involve primarily the total clitoris and lower vaginal areas, Barry Komisaruk and his colleagues had noted that the cervix could serve as a center of orgasmic pleasure in some women under appropriate conditions of stimulation (2006; Kinsey et al. 1953). Komisaruk et al. have more recently shown that the human vagina, cervix, and clitoris are innervated by different afferent pathways, which project to different areas in the sensory cortex in the brain (2011). More research is necessary to understand these aspects of female orgasm more fully.

  18. Gould says: “Elisabeth Lloyd, a philosopher of science at the University of California at San Diego, has just completed a critical study of explanations recently proposed by evolutionary biologists for the origins and significance of female orgasm. Nearly all these proposals follow the lamentable tradition of speculative storytelling in the a priori adaptationist mode” (1987, p. 17).

  19. By “evolution,” Barash means “selection,” in context. This mistake is discussed in the next section.

  20. Thanks to Eduoard Machery for discussion. See Meehl (1954) for corrections to similar confusions in the comparison between statistical and causal hypotheses.

  21. This language comes from Thompson Clarke, “The Legacy of Skepticism,” (Clarke 1972).

  22. It may be that modern circumstances somehow block the historically relevant correlations from appearing in the data; however, the authors argue against such an interpretation (Zietsch and Santtila 2013).

  23. This low rate is apparently explained by an anatomical correlation between the structure of the genitals and the rate of orgasm with intercourse. Those women with a longer distance between clitoris and urinary meatus have  reliably many fewer orgasms with intercourse than those women with a shorter distance (Wallen and Lloyd 2011). Note again that the occurrence of orgasm is not correlated with fitness measures (Zietsch and Santtila 2011, 2013), so these different distances cannot be interpreted functionally, under the present information. Only Hrdy’s, of the current theories, presents female orgasm as anything but a present adaptation.

  24. See Mitchell (2002) for an excellent critique of Sherman’s similar “levels of analysis” approach to evolutionary explanations. Ian Jamieson rejected the “levels” approach (1989, p. 696).

References

  • Alcock J (1987) Ardent adaptationism. Nat Hist 96:4

    Google Scholar 

  • Alcock J (1998) Unpunctuated equilibrium and the Natural History essays of Stephen Jay Gould. Evol Hum Behav 19:321–336

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Amundson R (1994) Two concepts of constraint: adaptationism and the challenge from developmental biology. Philos Sci 61:556–578

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Amundson R (1998) Typology reconsidered: two doctrines on the history of evolutionary biology. Biol Philos 13:153–177

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Amundson R (2001) Adaptation, development, and the quest for common ground. In: Orzack SH, Sober E (eds) Adaptationist and optimality. Cambridge University Press, New York, pp 303–334

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Amundson R (2005) The changing role of the embryo in evolutionary thought: roots of evo-devo. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Andrews PW, Gangestad SW, Matthews D (2002a) Adaptationism—how to carry out an exaptationist program. Behav Brain Sci 25(4):489–504

    Google Scholar 

  • Andrews PW, Gangestad SW, Matthews D (2002b) Adaptationism, exaptationism, and evolutionary behavioral science. Behav Brain Sci 25(4):534–547

    Google Scholar 

  • Barash DP, Lipton JE (2009) How women got their curves and other just-so stories: evolutionary enigmas. Columbia University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Bateson P, Laland KN (2013) Tinbergen’s four questions: an appreciation and an update. Trends Ecol Evol 28:712–718

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beatty J (1987) Natural selection and the null hypothesis. In: Dupre J (ed) The latest on the best. MIT Press, Cambridge, pp 53–75

    Google Scholar 

  • Birkhead TR, Miller AP (1992) Sperm competition in birds. Academic Press, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Breden FJ, Wade MJ (1987) An experimental study of the effect of group size on larval growth and survivorship in the imported willow leaf beetle, Plagiodera versicolora (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). Environ Entomol 16:1082–1086

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burian RM (1992) Adaptation: historical perspectives. In: Keller EF, Lloyd EA (eds) Keywords in evolutionary biology. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, pp 7–12

    Google Scholar 

  • Buss DM, Haselton MG, Shackelford TK et al (1998) Adaptations, exaptations, and spandrels. Am Psychol 54:533–548

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carroll SB (2005) Endless forms most beautiful: the new science of evo devo and the making of the animal kingdom. Norton, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Clarke T (1972) The legacy of skepticism. J Philos 69(20):754–769

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cosmides L, Tooby J (1994) Beyond intuition and instinct blindness: toward an evolutionarily rigorous cognitive science. Cognition 50(1):41–77

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dawood K, Kirk KM, Bailey JM et al (2005) Genetic and environmental influences on the frequency of orgasm in women. Twin Res Hum Genet 8:27–33

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dewsbury DA (1992) On the problems studied in ethology, comparative psychology, and animal behavior. Ethology 92:89–107

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dixson A (2012) Primate sexuality, 2nd edn. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Dunn KM, Cherkas LF, Spector TD (2005) Genetic influences on variation in female orgasmic function: a twin study. Biol Lett 1:260–263

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher RA (1958) The genetical theory of natural selection, 2nd edn. Dover, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Futuyma D (2013) Evolution, 3rd edn. Sinauer, Sunderland

    Google Scholar 

  • Geary DC, Flinn MV (2001) Evolution of human parental behavior and the human family. Parenting 1(1–2):5–61

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Godfrey-Smith P (2001) Three kinds of adaptationism. In: Orzack SH, Sober E (eds) Adaptationism and optimality. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 344–362

    Google Scholar 

  • Gould SJ (1987) Freudian slip. Nat Hist 96(2):14–21

    Google Scholar 

  • Gould SJ (2002) The structure of evolutionary theory. Harvard University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Gould SJ, Lewontin RC (1979) The spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian paradigm. Proc R Soc Lond B 205:581–598

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gould SJ, Vrba ES (1982) Exaptation: a missing term in the science of form. Paleobiology 8:4–15

    Google Scholar 

  • Griesemer J (2013) Integration of approaches in David Wake’s model-taxon research platform for evolutionary morphology. Stud Hist Philos Sci Part C 44(4):525–536

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Griesemer JR (2015) What salamander biologists have taught us about evo-devo. In: Love AC (ed) Conceptual change in biology. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 271–301

    Google Scholar 

  • Griffiths PE (1996) The historical turn in the study of adaptation. Br J Philos Sci 47:511–532

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Halliday T, Arnold SJ (1987) Multiple mating by females: a perspective from quantitative genetics. Anim Behav 35:939–941

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jamieson IG (1989) Levels of analysis or analyses at the same level. Anim Behav 37(4):696–697

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kinsey A, Pomeroy WB, Martin CE, Gebhard PH (1953) Sexual behavior in the human female. Indiana University Press, Indianapolis

    Google Scholar 

  • Komisaruk B, Beyer-Flores C, Whipple B (2006) The science of orgasm. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore

    Google Scholar 

  • Komisaruk BR, Wise N, Frangos E et al (2011) Women’s clitoris, vagina, and cervix mapped on the sensory cortex: fMRI evidence. J Sex Med 8(10):2822–2830

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kreitman M (1983) Nucleotide polymorphism at the alcohol dehydrogenase locus of Drosophila melanogaster. Nature 304:412–417

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lande R (1981) Models of speciation by sexual selection on polygenic traits. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 78:3721–3725

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levin R (2011) Can the controversy about the putative role of the human female orgasm in sperm transport be settled with our current physiological knowledge of coitus? J Sex Med 8:1566–1578

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levin R (2014a) Recreation and procreation: a critical view of sex in the human female. Clin Anat. doi:10.1002/ca.22495

    Google Scholar 

  • Levin R (2014b) Should the clitoris become a vestigial organ by personal ‘psychological clitoridectomy’? A critical examination of the literature. J Women’s Health Issues Care. doi:10.4172/2325-9795.1000159

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewens T (2009) Seven types of adaptationism. Biol Philos 24(2):161–182

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Linde-Medina M (2011) Adaptation or exaptation? The case of the human hand. J Biosci 36(4):575–585. doi:10.1007/s12038-011-9102-5

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Linquist SJ (2006) When is an orgasm just an orgasm? Elisabeth Lloyd’s The Case of the Female Orgasm: bias in the Science of Evolution. Metascience 15:411–419

    Google Scholar 

  • Lloyd EA (2005) The case of the female orgasm: bias in the science of evolution. Harvard University Press, Cambridge. Italian edition: Lloyd EA (2006) Il caso dell’orgasmo femminile: Pregiudizio nella scienza dell’evoluzione (trans: Faravelli E). Codice, Torino

  • Lloyd EA (2013) Units and levels of selection. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/selection-units/

  • Lloyd EA, Gould SJ ([2002]2014) Exaptation revisited (Unpublished manuscript)

  • Lloyd EA, Wilson DS, Sober E (2014) Evolutionary mismatch and what to do about it: a basic tutorial (Unpublished manuscript)

  • Marrow P, Johnstone RA (1996) Riding the evolutionary streetcar: where population genetics and game theory meet. Trends Ecol Evol 11:445–446

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martins EP (2000) Adaptation and the comparative method. Trends Ecol Evol 15:296–299

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mayr E (1983) How to carry out the adaptationist program? Am Nat 121:324–334

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCauley DE, Wade MJ, Breden FJ, Wohltman M (1988) Kin selection: geographic variation in relatedness in the imported willow leaf beetle, Plagiodera versicolora. Evolution 42:184–192

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meehl PE (1954) Clinical versus statistical prediction: a theoretical analysis and a review of the evidence. http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/2006-21565-000

  • Millstein RL (2007) Hsp90-induced evolution: adaptationist, neutralist, and developmentalist scenarios. Biol Theory 2:376–386

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Millstein RL (2008) Distinguishing drift and selection empirically: ‘The Great Snail Debate’ of the 1950s. J Hist Biol 41:339–367

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell S (2002) Integrative pluralism. Biol Philos 17:55–70

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Newman SA (1988) Lineage and pattern in the developing vertebrate limb. Trends Genet 4:329–332

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Newman SA, Bhat R (2008) Dynamical patterning modules: physico-genetic determinants of morphological development and evolution. Phys Biol 5:1–14

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Newman SA, Bhat R (2011) Lamarck’s dangerous idea. In: Gissis SB, Jablonka E (eds) Transformations of Lamarckism: from subtle fluids to molecular biology. MIT Press, Cambridge, pp 157–170

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Odling-Smee FJ, Laland KN, Feldman MW (2001) Niche construction: the neglected process in evolution. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Otsuka J (2014) Causal foundations of evolutionary genetics. Br J Philos Sci. doi:10.1093/bjps/axu039

    Google Scholar 

  • Pigliucci M, Kaplan J (2000) The rise and fall of Dr. Pangloss: adaptationism and the Spandrels paper 20 years later. Trends Ecol Evol 15(2):66–70

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pigliucci M, Müller GB (2010) Evolution: the extended synthesis. MIT Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Pinker S (1999) How the mind works. Ann N Y Acad Sci 882:119–127. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.1999.tb08538.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Puts DA, Welling LLM, Burriss RP, Dawood K (2012) Men’s masculinity and attractiveness predict their female partners’ reported orgasm frequency and timing. Evol Hum Behav 33:1–9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raff RA (1996) The shape of life: genes, development and the evolution of animal form. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Reeve HK, Sherman PW (1993) Adaptation and the goals of evolutionary research. Q Rev Biol 68(1):1–32

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rose MR, Lauder GV (eds) (1996) Adaptation. Academic Press, San Diego

    Google Scholar 

  • Russell B (1919) Introduction to mathematical philosophy. McMillan, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Sansom R (2003) Constraining the adaptationism debate. Biol Philos 18:493–512

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmitt DP, Pilcher JJ (2004) Evaluating evidence of psychological adaptation: how do we know one when we see one? Psychol Sci 15(10):643–649

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schwalm PA, Starrett PH, McDiarmid RW (1977) Infrared reflectance in leaf-sitting neotropical frogs. Science 196:1225–1229

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seger J, Stubblefield JW (1996) Optimization and adaptation. In: Rose MR, Lauder GV (eds) Adaptation. Academic Press, San Diego, pp 93–102

    Google Scholar 

  • Sherman P (1989) The clitoris debate and the levels of analysis. Anim Behav 37:697–698

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Singh RS, Krimbas CB (2000) Evolutionary genetics: from molecules to morphology. Cambridge University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith D (Hrdy) (2005) A critic takes on the logic of female orgasm. New York Times, May 17, pp 1–3

  • Symons D (1979) The evolution of human sexuality. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Symons D (1990) Adaptiveness and adaptation. Ethol Sociobiol 11(4):427–444

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thornhill R (1990) The study of adaptation. In: Bekoff M, Jamieson D (eds) Interpretation and explanation in the study of behavior. Westview Press, Boulder, pp 31–62

    Google Scholar 

  • Thornhill R (1997) The concept of an evolved adaptation. In: Daly M (ed) Characterizing human psychological adaptations. Wiley, New York, pp 4–22

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Fraassen BC (1980) The scientific image. Clarendon, Oxford

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Wade MJ (1978) A critical review of the models of group selection. Q Rev Biol 53(2):101–114

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wade MJ (1985) Soft selection, hard selection, kin selection, and group selection. Am Nat 125(1):61–73

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wade MJ (1994) The biology of the willow leaf beetle, Plagiodera versicolora (Laicharting). In: Joliviet P, Cox M (eds) Novel aspects of the biology of chrysomelidae. Kluwer Academic Publishers Group, Dordrecht, pp 541–547

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Wade MJ (2016) Adaptation in metapopulations: how interactions change evolution. University of Chicago Press, Chicago (in press)

  • Wade MJ, Breden FJ (1986) Life history of natural populations of the imported willow leaf beetle, Plagiodera versicolora (coleoptera: chrysomelidae). Ann Entomol Soc Am 79:73–79

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wake DB (1991) Homoplasy: the result of natural selection, or evidence of design limitations? Am Nat 138:543–567

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wake DB (2009) What salamanders have taught us about evolution. Annu Rev Ecol Evol Syst 40:333–352

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wallen K, Lloyd EA (2011) Female sexual arousal: genital anatomy and orgasm in intercourse. Horm Behav 59:780–792

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • West-Eberhard M-J (1992) Adaptation: current usages. In: Keller EF, Lloyd EA (eds) Keywords in evolutionary biology. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, pp 13–18

    Google Scholar 

  • Westneat DF, Sherman PW, Morton ML (1990) The ecology and evolution of extra-pair copulations in birds. Curr Ornithol 7:331–369

    Google Scholar 

  • Wheatley JR, Puts DA (2015) Evolutionary science of female orgasm. In: Shackelford TK, Hansen RD (eds) The evolution of sexuality. Springer, Berlin, pp 123–148. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-09384-0_7

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams GC (1966) Adaptation and selection. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright S (1931) Evolution in Mendelian populations. Genetics 16(2):97–159

    Google Scholar 

  • Zietsch BP, Santtila P (2011) Genetic analysis of orgasmic function in twins and siblings does not support the by-product theory of female orgasm. Anim Behav 82:1097–1101

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zietsch BP, Santtila P (2013) No direct relationship between human female orgasm rate and number of offspring. Anim Behav 86:253–255

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zietsch BP, Miller GF, Bailey JM, Martin NG (2011) Female orgasm rates are largely independent of other traits: implications for “female orgasmic disorder” and evolutionary theories of orgasm. J Sex Med 8:2305–2316

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Arnold and Maxine Tanis for their support of my research over many years. I owe thanks to many biologists and philosophers for discussion about the topic of this paper, including especially the following: The Biology Studies Reading Group at IU, Colin Allen, Linnda Caporael, Janet Collett, Michael Dietrich, Stephen Downes, Marcus Feldman, Stephen Jay Gould (with whom I discussed the germs of ideas of this article), Jim Griesemer, Chris Haufe, Ryan Ketcham, Roy Levin, Richard Lewontin, Daniel Lindquist, Alan Love, Eduoard Machery, Gordon McOuat, Roberta Millstein, Stuart Newman, Elizabeth and Rudy Raff, Elliott Sober, Donald Symons, Michael Wade, Michael Weisberg, and two anonymous referees for this journal. Please forgive me, those I have not listed due to my faulty memory!

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Elisabeth A. Lloyd.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Lloyd, E.A. Adaptationism and the Logic of Research Questions: How to Think Clearly About Evolutionary Causes. Biol Theory 10, 343–362 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13752-015-0214-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13752-015-0214-2

Keywords

Navigation