"Adaptation" is Not Teleological
In its essence, the theory of natural selection is primarily an attempt to give an account of the probable mechanism of the origin of the adaptations of the organisms to their environment, and only secondarily an attempt to explain evolution at large. Some modem biologists seem to believe that the word 'adaptation' has teleological connotations, and should therefore be expunged from the scientific lexicon. With this we must emphatically disagree. That adaptations exist is so evident as to be almost a truism, although this need not mean that ours is the best of all possible worlds. A biologist has no right to close his eyes to the fact that the precarious balance between a living being and its environment must be preserved by some mechanism or mechanisms if life is to endure.
Notes:
It is not an end, neither is evolution, and this is not the best state of things there could be.
Folksonomies: evolution debate adaptation
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Concepts:
Biology (0.977796): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Natural selection (0.870245): dbpedia | freebase
Life (0.763332): dbpedia | freebase
Charles Darwin (0.733896): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc | yago
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Adaptation (0.548205): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Genetics (0.534048): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Immune system (0.530120): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Genetics and the origin of species