Natural selection as a paradigm of opportunism in biology |
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Authors: | Joseph Esfandiar Hannon Bozorgmehr |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Human Sciences, University of Milan II, Milan, Italy |
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Abstract: | The success of extant species is largely due to their ability to adapt in the face of constantly changing environmental conditions.
Natural selection is the biological mechanism that takes advantage of opportunities to promote spontaneous variations and
facilitate evolutionary development. The character of this biological opportunism is considered here, placing it firmly within
the context of various social and economic principles—notably individualism, industrialism, utilitarianism and consequentialism—that
have characterised the philosophy of the modern era. However, this purely opportunistic approach, and its myopic emphasis
on immediate problem solving, has serious shortcomings within both life and business practice. These are examined here in
contrast to some of the alternative approaches found in biology and economics theory. The nature and relationship of function
to utility in biology is also given particular consideration, as is the issue of incrementalism in the development of complex
adaptive features. The methodological reductionism at the heart of evolutionary biology certainly does offer insightful empirical
results reported in the scientific literature. Nonetheless, natural selection is observed to be a purely reflexive mechanism
and not one capable of producing the kind of innovation necessary for the more revolutionary changes in an organism’s systems. |
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