The Explanatory Scope of Generalized Darwinism: Towards Criteria for Evolutionary Explanations Outside Biology

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Thomas A.C. Reydon
• Subject Area: Theoretical Philosophy ; Evolution, Anthropology
• Term: from 2019 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 430626147

• Final Report Year: 2025

Final Report Abstract

The project “The Explanatory Scope of Generalized Darwinism: Towards Criteria for Evolutionary Explanations Outside Biology” (GenDar) focused on four research questions: Is there a core set of principles, concepts, etc. that was retained throughout the development of Dar- winian evolutionary theory in the history of biological science and that also features in applications of the theory in areas outside biology? Is there an epistemologically and/or metaphysically preferred way of formulating the core of Darwinian evolutionary that best underwrites its explanatory potential of Darwinism? Can a formulation of the explanatory core of Darwinism be found that minimizes the risk of adverse implications for society and for human life of using Darwinian thinking in those areas? The project achieved a clear and univocal answer to these three questions, namely “no”. There are no (either epistemologically or metaphysically) preferred formulations of Darwinism or Darwinian evolutionary theory that were retained throughout the history of evolutionary theorizing and that can be used in applications of evolutionary theory outside the biological sciences. Rather, what unifies such different applications is a common style of thinking that centers on a specific explanatory ideal. The project used in-depth analysis of evolutionary explanations of cultural and social change (in particular Mesoudi’s and Henrich’s accounts of cultural evolution) to assess the explanatory force of such explanations and showed where these are deficient. The project resulted in a novel account of how evolutionary theory finds its way into areas of research outside biology, that both shows how transfers from biology into other areas generally work and where specific pitfalls and deficiencies lie when using evolutionary theory to explain aspects of human culture and human societies.

Publications

• GENERALIZED DARWINISM AS MODEST UNIFICATION. American Philosophical Quarterly, 58(1), 79-94.
  Reydon, Thomas A.C.
  
• Misconceptions, conceptual pluralism, and conceptual toolkits: bringing the philosophy of science to the teaching of evolution. European Journal for Philosophy of Science, 11(2).
  Reydon, Thomas A. C.
  
• The proper role of history in evolutionary explanations. Noûs, 57(1), 162-187.
  Reydon, Thomas A. C.
  
• From Games to Graphs: Synthesizing Generalized Evolution Theory, Paderborn: Brill Mentis.
  Baraghith, K.
  
• PLAYING BY THE RULES: USING GAMES TO STUDY SOCIAL NORMS. Think, 21(62), 63-72.
  Valković, Martina
  
• Evolutionary Thinking Across Disciplines. Synthese Library. Springer International Publishing.
  du Crest, Agathe; Valković, Martina; Ariew, André; Desmond, Hugh; Huneman, Philippe & Reydon, Thomas A. C.
  
• Ontological and Methodological Limitations of Certain Cultural Evolution Approaches. Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 54(4), 279-301.
  Valković, Martina
  
• Cultural Evolutionary Psychology as Generalization by Recursion. Journal for General Philosophy of Science, 56(1), 3-22.
  Baraghith, Karim & Feldbacher-Escamilla, Christian J.
  
• Evolution at the Origins of Life?. Life, 14(2), 175.
  Schoenmakers, Ludo L. J.; Reydon, Thomas A. C. & Kirschning, Andreas
  
• The Varieties of Darwinism: Explanation, Logic, and Worldview. The Quarterly Review of Biology, 99(2), 77-98.
  Desmond, Hugh; Ariew, André; Huneman, Philippe & Reydon, Thomas