Explanation by Constraint in Evolutionary Biology

胚胎学和发育生物学越来越多地 在现代进化生物学中很突出。 许多 发展重要性的倡导者认为， 有机增长的过程会限制 适应性进化 这种做法与 “适应论”是主流新达尔文主义 强调自然选择的进化生物学 以及对环境的特殊适应 生产。 适应主义被批评者说成 忽视发展的结构性过程， 是大型生物群体所共有的， 产生非适应性的相似性。 阿蒙森博士是 审查适应的方法学基础- 从一个历史性的 perspective. 一场非常相似的辩论发生在 在达尔文之前的英国生物学家中， 神学家和大陆风格形态学家， 比较解剖学家 两者之间的比较 争论表明，适应性和适应性之间的对比 结构生物学解释并不是一个特殊的 进化生物学的特征。 的 方法上的相似性将有助于更好地 了解当前的辩论，并更好地 对不同解释策略的理解 用于生物科学。

Embryology and developmental biology are increasingly prominent in modern evolutionary biology. Many advocates of the importance of development argue that the processes of organic growth produce constraints on adaptive evolution. This approach contrasts with "adaptationism," a feature of mainstream neo-Darwinian evolutionary biology that emphasizes natural selection and the particular adaptations-to-environment it produces. Adaptationism is said by its critics to ignore the structural processes of development which are common to large groups of organisms and which produce non-adaptational similarities. Dr. Amundson is examining the methodological basis of the adaptation- versus-constraint debates from an historical perspective. A remarkably similar debate occurred among pre-Darwinian British biologists, between natural theologians and continental style morphologists and comparative anatomists. Comparisons between the two debates suggest that the contrast between adaptational and structural biological explanation is not a special feature of evolutionary biology at all. The methodological similarities will contribute to a better understanding of the current debates and a better understanding of the diverse explanatory strategies used in biological science.