Behavioral and Brain Sciences

Table of Contents - 2000 - Volume 23, Issue 01  


Short Communication

Newton and Darwin: Can this marriage be saved?

William M. Baum a1 and Suzanne H. Mitchell a2
a1 Department of Psychology, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824-3567 wm.baum@unh.edu
a2 Department of Psychology, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824-3567 shm@cisunix.unh.edu

Abstract

The insights described by Nevin & Grace may be summarized without reference to the Newtonian concepts they suggest. The metaphor to Newtonian mechanics seems dubious in three ways: (1) extensions seem to lead to paradoxes; (2) many well-known phenomena are ignored; (3) the Newtonian concepts seem difficult to reconcile with the larger framework of evolutionary theory.