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The Heuristic Role of Sewall Wright's 1932 Adaptive Landscape Diagram

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Robert A. Skipper Jr.
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Abstract

Sewall Wright's adaptive landscape is the most influential heuristic in evolutionary biology. Wright's biographer, Provine, criticized Wright's adaptive landscape, claiming that its heuristic value is dubious because of deep flaws. Ruse has defended Wright against Provine. Ruse claims Provine has not shown Wright's use of the landscape is flawed, and that, even if it were, it is heuristically valuable. I argue that both Provine's and Ruse's analyses of the adaptive landscape are defective and suggest a more adequate understanding of it.

Type
The Making of the Genetical Theory of Evolution
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 71 , Issue 5: Proceedings of the 2002 Biennial Meeting of The Philosophy of Science Association. Part II: Symposia Papers , December 2004 , pp. 1176 - 1188
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 by the Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

‡

Thanks to Lindley Darden, Mike Dietrich, Roberta Millstein, and Bob Richardson. Research for this paper was supported by NSF Grant no. 9818095.

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