Rhapsodic Evolution: Essay on Exaptation and Evolutionary Pluralism

Since formulating the theory of punctuated equilibria in 1972, a group of prominent evolutionary biologists, geneticists and paleontologists have contributed towards a significant reinterpretation of the neo-Darwinian image of evolution which had consolidated during the second half of the 20th century. We believe a research program, which we might define as "evolutionary pluralism", has been outlined, one that is centered on the discovery of the complexity and multiplicity of elements that work together to produce changes in our evolutionary systems. We are talking about a three-dimensional multiplicity: a multiplicity of rhythms in evolution (i.e. the theory of punctuated equilibria); a multiplicity of evolutionary units and levels (i.e. the hierarchical theory of evolution); a multiplicity of factors and causes in evolution (i.e. the concept of ex-aptation). While the reductionistic and deterministic view of natural history interprets the intelligence of evolution as a panoptic and executory rationality, evolutionary pluralism, going back to the original flexibility of the Darwinian opus, sees in the intelligence of evolution an ingenious métis, an imperfect but very creative, craftsman-like cleverness. The new metaphors of change introduced by evolutionary pluralism and the consequent criticism of the adaptational paradigm offer some very interesting spin-offs for the study of evolutionary systems in widely differing fields, from theoretic economy to the cognitive sciences. We herein propose a particular hypothesis concerning the possibility and usefulness of expanding the concept of exaptation into a general theory of developmental processes, both in biology as well as in the cognitive sciences.