Adaptation and Natural Selection: A Critique of Some Current Evolutionary Thought

by George C. Williams

Book Overview

Biological evolution is a fact--but the many conflicting theories of evolution remain controversial even today. In 1966, simple Darwinism, which holds that evolution functions primarily at the level of the individual organism, was threatened by opposing concepts such as group selection, a popular idea stating that evolution acts to select entire species rather than individuals. George Williams's famous argument in favor of the Darwinists struck a...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0691023573
• ISBN13: 9780691023571
• Release Date: December 1974
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.1" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Neodarwinian `Adaptationism' that repaired evolutionary biology

This book conquers worlds. George C. Williams `Adaptation and Natural Selection' (ANS) is subtitled `A critique of some current evolutionary thought' but is much more than just a challenge to what Williams thinks is biology gone astray. It is a landmark treatise on adaptations and a masterful revision of the current status of natural science. William's book, first published in 1966, uses a lot of scientific language and is not much of a layman's read even though the introduction suggests it may be and definitely isn't an initiation into evolution. Most readers will probably come here having read Richard Dawkins `The Selfish Gene' (TSG) a book which refers to this source too often to count. It is more difficult than TSG and even includes a little math. At the same time when dealing with animal behaviour and directly with examples of adaptations, Williams treats the reader to some profound insights into evolution. It becomes quickly obvious why this is an extremely influential book and therefore mandatory reading for all professional biologists and students of the subject. It is a book of three parts but all are mixed together. There is the topic of adaptations and their function, gene versus group selection and correctly applying natural selection to a biological observation. In fact the first two lead to the last point which is the goal that this book envisions bringing about. 1. Introduction George C. Williams lays out his motive for writing ANS. He talks about how on a walk home from a lecture (Emerson 1954-55) he decided that terminology used in relation to evolution has been bandied about by biologists in ways that it shouldn't be and in particular what function an adaptation serves. With respect to the former problem, Williams thinks this is an error because the biologists are simply wrong and the latter has to do with a serious lack of scientific investigation. Williams realizes that many biologists are also heading towards a picture whereby organisms act for the greater good of the species and sees that as undermining neo-Darwinian principles where the gene is the unit of selection not the group. ANS is his case for a rethink on these current trends. 2. Natural Selection, Adaptation, and Progress Williams lays out the framework of the post-Fisher, Haldane, Wright neo-Darwinian synthesis based on principles of Mendelian genetics combined with quantitative findings such as population genetics, computation for selection and important rates in evolution. What this does is to show how the concept of alternate alleles and their frequencies in a population can produce adaptive changes and thus evolution, all of which involves the gene as the unit of selection. The point of all of this is that groups and populations may appear as a singular organism but this is just the effect of individuals in aggregate. Williams clearly thinks the group is not subject to any form of selective pressure and that organisms are not evolving strategies to b

A classic hallmark of science

Williams' classic work on the theory of evolution has natural selection take on social phenomena in a resounding and suprisingly still current overview of the research that was for its time up-to-date. The arguments are cohesive, the findings irrefutable, and the implications for modern biology and social psychology indispensable. Simply a must-have for any researcher in related fields or the curious arm chair scholar.

The potency of natural selection is largely underestimated

Another reader has already given an excellent summary of this book. I would like to stress only some important points in my comment.One should have a rather good knowledge of basic algebra, statistics, botany and biology to fully understand this book.This is a key text about Darwinism. Its influence cannot be overestimated, as show a few excerpts hereafter: 'there is nothing in the basic structure of the theory of natural selection that would suggest the idea of any kind of cumulative progress' and 'Evolution was a by-product of the maintenance of adaptation'.These sentences are cornerstones of today's theories on Darwinism (see the works of the late S.J. Gould or Richard Dawkins).In a cool style, but with compelling arguments, the author wipes the floor with his opponents' theories about group adaptations, instead of adaptations on the individual level.He also stresses the fundamentally different roles of male and female mammals for the production of offspring and the evolutionary impact of female choice.But there is more: (adapted sentence)'If some organisms were not entirely self-seeking, they, and Nature in general, would be more ethically acceptable. In most theological systems it is necessary that the creator be benevolent and that this benevolence is shown in his creation. If Nature is found to be malicious or morally indifferent, the creator is presumably too. For many, peace in mind might be difficult with the acceptance of these conclusions, but this is hardly a basis for making decisions in biology'.This sentence is still today too big a swallow for the moral elite, unable to comprehend their own Darwinian behaviour and unable to think about the fact that 'natural selection, albeit stupid, is a story of unending arms races, slaughter and suffering' (G.C. Williams in 'Plan and Purpose in Nature').An essential book by a superb free mind.

'Adaptation and Natural Selection' Précis

The significance of George C. Williams analysis in "Adaptation and Natural Selection" lies in his detailed argument of why natural selection functions on the level of the individual and not the group. His defense of Darwinism rewrites the generally held assumption that adaptation characterizes species and populations, and emphasizes the role that natural selection plays in shaping the individual genotype. He thus makes possible the explanation of evolution without the use of terms such as 'group selection,' 'population adaptation,' or 'progress.' While Williams acknowledges that group selection plays a significant role in some of earth's biota, such as the eukaryotes, individual selection characterizes most organisms which reproduce sexually (xii). In the process of showing why individual selection vis a vis group selection is significant, Williams also, significantly, argues that the term adaptation cannot yet be understood in terms of any principles or procedures. The significance of Williams' starting point - a clarification of what an adaptation is and isn't - is definitional. An evolutionary 'adaptation' has specific meanings: 1) Adaptations should only be called 'functions' when shaped by design and not chance (8); 2) the level of organization of an adaptation shouldn't be higher than that admitted by the evidence (19); 3) only natural selection could have given rise to adaptations (8). Thus the scientific study of an adaptation awaits more developments in biology. Williams argues that natural selection operates and is effective only at levels measured statistically (22), for example, in terms of rates of random change, quantitative relationships among sampling errors, and selection coefficients (37). Mendelian populations selected for at the level of alleles exclusively meet these requirements (24). For Williams, natural selection of alternative alleles operates to choose between worse and better options at the level of individuals in a population (45). Genetic, somatic and ecological factors, i.e. the environment, contribute to selecting for genes. Thus, environmental factors don't directly affect populations (58). Williams identifies processes relating to the genetic system, such as sex-determining mechanisms (156), stability of genes (138), diploidy (126), introgressive hybridization (144), and the way sexual and asexual reproduction in the life cycles are distributed in the life-cycle (133) as short-term adaptations. Group survival, therefore, is a chance consequence of the these adaptations, as well as related errors such as mutation and introgression. In chapter 5, Williams also suggests that decent evidence does not exist for other mechanisms of evolutionary change or other genetic system adaptations, thus highlighting the exclusive role of natural selection in shaping life. Reproductive physiological variations of organisms seem designed to maximize organisms' reproductive success. Instances such as unbridled fecundity (161) and s

It's a classic!

You will find a very good book about the misinterpretation of Darwin's texts and ideas. This book is about being a careful reader, too.