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Cause and effect in biology revisited: Is Mayr’s proximate-ultimate dichotomy still useful?

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Author

  • Kevin Laland
  • Kim Sterelny
  • John Odling-Smee
  • William Hoppitt
  • Tobias Uller

Summary, in English

Fifty years ago, Ernst Mayr published a hugely influential paper on the nature of causation in biology, in which he distinguished between proximate and ultimate causes. Mayr equated proximate causation with immediate factors (for example, physiology) and ultimate causation with evolutionary explanations (for example, natural selection). He argued that proximate and ultimate causes addressed different questions and were not alternatives. Mayr's account of causation remains widely accepted today, with both positive and negative ramifications. Several current debates in biology (for example, over evolution and development, niche construction, cooperation, and the evolution of language) are linked by a common axis of acceptance/rejection of Mayr's model of causation. We argue that Mayr's formulation has acted to stabilize the dominant evolutionary paradigm against change but may now hamper progress in the biological sciences

Publishing year

2011

Language

English

Pages

1512-1516

Publication/Series

Science

Volume

334

Issue

6062

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Topic

  • Biological Sciences

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1095-9203