A history of evolvability: reconstructing and explaining the origination of a research agenda

Abstract

This chapter addresses the origination of evolvability research with the aim of contributing more generally to the reconstruction and explanation of the recent history of evolutionary biology. I combine co-citation analysis and first-person reconstructions of the history of the field obtained from a series of interviews with evolutionary biologists who were and/or are currently active in evolvability studies. After a preliminary methodological reflection, I present a reconstruction of the multiple origins of evolvability research. In the last section of the chapter, I make use of cultural evolution theory to discuss two kinds of explanations that might account for this pattern: “Selectionist” explanations highlight aspects of the methodological and intellectual landscape that promoted the acceptability and diffusion of the evolvability perspective; “evolvability” explanations address the role of internal, theoretical developments involved in the origination and diversification of evolvability research. Although selectionist explanations have been largely explored, internal factors accounting for the evolvability of scientific concepts and theories remain relatively neglected. I argue that explaining the recent history of evolvability research from this perspective provides promising insights to our understanding of science dynamics.