Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from What Is Adaptation?
This book is a sequel to another, published two years ago, under the title The Growth of Groups in the Animal Kingdom.' It is not, however, a continuation of the chief subject of the latter, but of a side issue. On the previous occasion, I expressed the opinion that adaptation did not, in itself, need explanation: but certain critics soon inculcated that it was unwise to make such an assertion, without properly defending it. Con sequently, I shall here endeavour to show how the need for an explanation of adaptation has arisen, and why such an explanation seems unnecessary.
Some critics noticed that I was biassed against the selection theory. Indeed, I was careful to say so at the outset. N 0 one should be biassed, ' they advised; keep your mind open and wait for evidence.' But they fail to see that the selection theory, whatever its value, is the expression of a certain bias, a certain mental requirement, the need for an explanation of adaptation.
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