适应主义纲领:一种“乐观论”启发式策略

Adaptionism Program: A Heuristic Approach to Panglossianism

适应主义根植于19世纪末华莱士和魏斯曼等人的思想,后来被费希尔和威廉发展,是一种强调生物适应的生物进化理论。适应主义纲领又被解释成乐观论纲领,其确证原则强调了性状近似功能和终极功能的区分。从研究上,其逐渐形成了实证的、解释的和方法论的三种范式,三者虽彼此独立但又各有所短。重要的是,适应主义纲领不能被笼统地认为是假说的测试,而是一种启发式的研究纲领。这种研究理路虽然存在方法上和解释上的局限,但在发展过程中坚持了否定之否定的原则。

Adaptionism is rooted in the thought of Wallace and Weismann and later expanded by William and Fish- er. It is a theory of biological evolution which lays emphasis on biological adaptation. Adaptionism program is also interpreted as Panglossianism, and its confirmation maxim emphasizes the distinction between approximate features and ultimate function of traits. Adaptionism includes empirical, explanatory and methodological adaptionism, which are independent but of shortages. Above all, adaptionism cannot be simply viewed as a test of hypothesis but a heu- ristic research strategy. Although this program has limitations both in methods and explanation it still adheres to the principle of negation of negation in its development.