Natural Selection Definition

Knowledge within a discipline develops according to the principles of natural selection. How useful is this metaphor?

With millions of scholars and researchers dedicating their entire lives to finding answers to the unsolved mysteries of the universe, we can only hope that our knowledge is constantly developing in a positive manner with each new discovery. From Bronsted-Lowry’s acid-base theory improving upon that of Arrhenius’ to tribes developing stronger and more efficient tools, it is reasonable to think that our current understandings of the world are greater than our predecessors. One may even argue that knowledge within a discipline develops according to the principles of natural selection. But how useful is this metaphor? Although

For example, with economics, my business teacher insists that the creation or development of theories serves to better rationally explain the world of trade, and practically allow governments to make decisions that will improve citizens’ living standards. Using the metaphor as criteria to decide whether a new theory should be publicly released, there can be significant improvements made in the lives of citizens. The creation of theories in the human sciences also manages to satisfy the mortality aspect of natural selection – where weaker theories die off. Examples include the Philips curve and Laffer equation which have been replaced by newer theories due to their failure to draw meaningful correlations in 21rst century economics. In terms of psychology, our current understandings of human behaviour have vastly improved upon earlier beliefs, when mental sicknesses were associated with the Devil. However, with exponential advancements in neuroscience, we are forced to wonder whether we will ever fully understand all the complexities of the brain. If such a day were to arise, we would reach a knowledge barrier, as everything to know about human behaviour would already have been revealed. Therefore, unlike natural selection which theoretically should never stop changing, our knowledge would come to a halt at its perfect form. Until that day arrives however, there is no evidence to suggest that our psychological understandings are developing differently from natural selection. Lastly, if our knowledge is dependent on memory and sense perception – ways of knowing that are linked to physical brain capacity, which only increases through evolution – then one could say that our capacity for knowledge literally develops according to the principles of natural