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1 results

  • 20 - Narrative Solutions to a Common Evolutionary Problem

  • from VI - Narrative Sensibility and Argument
  • Edited by Mary S. Morgan, London School of Economics and Political Science, Kim M. Hajek, London School of Economics and Political Science, Dominic J. Berry, London School of Economics and Political Science
  • Book:
    Narrative Science
    Published online:
    16 September 2022
    Print publication:
    06 October 2022, pp 405-423
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  • Summary

    To give a Darwinian explanation of the traits of a species, it is not enough to show that the traits are appropriate for the environments inhabited. One must also show that the traits in question are more appropriate than the (presumed) ancestral traits from which they are derived. But one must go further still. Even if there is no question that the derived traits are more appropriate, one must still specify the sequence of modifications leading from the ancestral to the derived traits, each step of which is fitness-enhancing. How better – indeed, how else – than by a narrative? I illustrate these points through the evolution of flatfish eyes. This is part of an ongoing project concerning what narratives are good for, what narratives do better than non-narrative arguments: in short, why we need narratives.