All Journals > Philosophy of Science > July 2008 > Natural Selection as a Mechanism

Search for Related Articles

July 2008

Volume 75, Number 3
Philosophy of Science, 75 (July 2008) pp. 306–322
0031-8248/2008/7503-0003$10.00
DOI: 10.1086/593075

Natural Selection as a Mechanism*

D. Benjamin Barros

Skipper and Millstein (2005) argued that existing conceptions of mechanisms failed to “get at” natural selection but left open the possibility that a refined conception of mechanisms could resolve the problems that they identified. I respond to Skipper and Millstein, and argue that while many of their points have merit, their objections can be overcome and that natural selection can be characterized as a mechanism. In making this argument, I discuss the role of regularity in mechanisms, and develop an account of stochastic (i.e., probabilistic) mechanisms. Explaining the phenomenon of adaptation through the mechanism of natural selection illustrates the power and flexibility of using mechanistic strategies to explain natural phenomena.

*Received May 2007; revised May 2008.

†To contact the author, please write to: Department of Philosophy, Skinner Building, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742; e‐mail: .
  • ‡Thanks to Lindley Darden for feedback and encouragement.

Close Popup