Survival of the fittest

Survival of the fittest is a phrase which is a shorthand for a concept relating to competition for survival or predominance. Originally applied to economics by Herbert Spencer, Spencer drew parallels with Charles Darwin's theories of evolution by what Darwin termed natural selection. The phrase is essentially a metaphor and is often felt to be unhelpful - biologists almost exclusively use natural selection in preference. Some have argued that it is a tautology, since if "fitness" is measured in terms of survival, the phrase becomes "survival of the survivors". Others argue that it is not a tautology, but a biological definition of "fitness".

Is "survival of the fittest" a tautology?

"Survival of the fittest" is often claimed to be a tautology (i.e. it is a statement which is true by its own definition, and is therefore fundamentally uninformative). This is the case if fitness is measured in terms of survival.

Related Topics:
Tautology - True by its own definition - Survival

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The first reaction to this is that "survival of the fittest" is a poor way to think about evolution and most modern biologists prefer and almost exclusively use the term natural selection in preference.

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Secondly however, a tautology is only a tautology if it is trivially true (i.e. if they assert that which no one denies), but there have been theories arguing that the fittest perish. In 1866, seven years after the publication of The Origin, American palaeontologist Alpheus Hyatt, who followed Lamarckism, proposed that lineages in the fossil record go through stages of youth, maturity, old age and death.

Related Topics:
1866 - American - Palaeontologist - Alpheus Hyatt - Lamarckism - Fossil record - Youth - Maturity - Old age - Death

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Additionally, experiments can be defined to test 'survival of the fittest'. Specifically an environment can be designed that should apply selective pressure to evolve certain characteristics of the target creature. After so many generations the survivors can be examined to see if the selective pressure brought forth the predicted features. Thus "Survival of the fittest" is a testable hypothesis given a defined fitness landscape.

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Rather than considering the phrase either a tautology or a testable hypothesis, many hold it to be a definition of biological survival. In this sense, anything that helps a species to survive is a trait of "fitness", even intentional human intervention or, arguably, random chance.

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