Abstract
The `fact' of pluralism in science is nosurprise. Yet, if science is representing andexplaining the structure of the oneworld, why is there such a diversity ofrepresentations and explanations in somedomains? In this paper I consider severalphilosophical accounts of scientific pluralismthat explain the persistence of bothcompetitive and compatible alternatives. PaulSherman's `Levels of Analysis' account suggeststhat in biology competition betweenexplanations can be partitioned by the type ofquestion being investigated. I argue that thisaccount does not locate competition andcompatibility correctly. I then defend anintegrative model for understanding pluralism. This view is based on taking seriously both thecomplexity and contingency of biologicalorganization and the idealized character ofbiological models. On this view, explanationbecomes, among other things, the location forthe integration of diverse models. I explicatemy argument by an analysis of explanations ofdivision of labor in social insects.
References
Beatty, J.: 1987, 'Natural Selection and the Null Hypothesis', in J. Dupré (ed.), The Latest on the Best: Essays on Evolution and Optimality, The MIT Press, Cambridge, pp. 53-76.
Beatty, J.: 1994, 'Ernst Mayr and the Proximate/Ultimate Distinction', Biology and Philosophy 9, 333-356.
Beshers, S.N. and Fewell, J.H.: 2001, 'Models of Division of Labor in Social Insects', Annual Review of Ecology 46, 413-440.
Bonabeau, E., Theraulaz, G., Deneubourg, J.-L., Aron, S. and Camazine, S.: 1997, 'Self-Organization in Social Insects', TREE 12(5), 188-193.
Boomsma, J.J., Fjerdingstad, E.J. and Frydenberg, J.: 1999, 'Multiple Paternity, Relatedness and Genetic Diversity in Acromyrmex Leaf-Cutter Ants', Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B 266, 249-254.
Bourke, A.F.G. and Franks, N.R.: 1995, Social Evolution in Ants, Princeton University Press, Princeton.
Calderone, N.W. and Page Jr., R.E.: 1992, 'Effects of Interactions Among Genotypically Diverse Nestmates on Task Specializations by Foraging Honey Bees (Apis mellifera)', Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 30, 219-226.
Cartwright, N.: 1994, 'Fundamentalism vs. the Patchwork of Laws', Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 279-292.
Cartwright, N.: 2000, The Dappled World: A Study of the Boundaries of Science, Cambridge University Press.
Deneubourg, J., Goss, S., Pasteels, J., Fresneau, D. and Lachaud, J.: 1987, 'Self-Organization Mechanisms in Ant Societies (II): Learning in Foraging and Division of Labor', Experientia Supplementum 54, 177-196.
Dupré, J.: 1993, The Disorder of Things, Harvard University Press, Cambridge.
Dupré, J.: 1996, 'Metaphysical Disorder and Scientific Disunity', in P. Galison and D. Stump (eds), The Disunity of Science, Stanford University Press, Stanford, pp. 101-117.
Fewell, J.H. and Page Jr., R.E.: 1999, 'The Emergence of Division of Labour in Forced Associations of Normally Solitary Ant Queens', Evolutionary Ecology Research 1, 537-548.
Feyerabend, P.K.: 1981, Philosophical Papers, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Hacking, I.: 1996, 'The Disunities of the Sciences', in P. Galison and D. Stump (eds), The Disunity of Science, Stanford University Press, Stanford, pp. 37-74.
Kauffman S.: 1993, Origins of Order, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Kitcher, P.: 1991, 'The Division of Cognitive Labor', Journal of Philosophy 87, 5-22.
Kuhn, T.S.: 1962, The Structure of Scientific Revolution, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Lakatos, I.: 1978, in J. Worrall and G. Currie (eds), The Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Levins, R.: 1968, Evolution in Changing Environments, Princeton University Press, Princeton.
Mayr, E.: 1961, 'Cause and Effect in Biology', Science 134, 1501-1506.
Mitchell, S.D.: 1992, 'On Pluralism and Competition in Evolutionary Explanations', American Zoologist 32, 135-144.
Mitchell, S.D., Daston, L., Gigerenzer, G., Sesardic, N. and Sloep, P.: 1997, 'The Why's and How's of Interdisciplinarity', in P. Weingart, S.D. Mitchell, P. Richerson and S. Maasen (eds), Human by Nature: Between Biology and the Social Sciences, Erlbaum Press, Mahwah, New Jersey, pp. 103-150.
Murray, J.D.: 1988, 'How the Leopard Gets Its Spots', Scientific American 259, 80-87.
Oster, G. and Murray, J.: 1989, 'Pattern Formation Models and Developmental Constraints', J. Exp. Zool. 251, 186-202.
Oster, G. and Wilson, E.O.: 1978, Caste and Ecology in the Social Insects, Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey.
Page Jr., R.E. and Metcalf, R.A.: 1982, 'Multiple Mating, Sperm Utilization, and Social Evolution', American Naturalist 119, 263-281.
Page Jr., R.E. and Mitchell, S.D.: 1991, 'Self Organization and Adaptation in Insect Societies', in A. Fine, M. Forbes and L. Wessels (eds), PSA 1990, Volume 2, Philosophy of Science Association, East Lansing, Michigan, pp. 289-298.
Page Jr., R.E. and Mitchell, S.D.: 1998, 'Self Organization and the Evolution of Division of Labor', Apidologie 29, 101-120.
Page Jr., R.E. and Robinson, G.E.: 1991, 'The Genetics of Division of Labour in Honey Bee Colonies', Advances in Insect Physiology 23, 117-169.
Reeve, H.K. and Sherman, P.W.: 1993, 'Adaptation and the Goals of Evolutionary Research', The Quarterly Review of Biology 68(1), 1-32.
Robinson, G.E. and Page Jr., R.E.: 1989, 'Genetic Basis for Division of Labor in an Insect Society', in M.D. Breed and R.E. Page Jr. (eds), The Genetics of Social Evolution, Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado, pp. 61-80.
Seeley, T.D.: 1995, The Wisdom of the Hive, Harvard University Press.
Seeley, T.D. and C.A. Tovey: 1994, 'Why Search Time to Find a Food-Storer Bee Accurately Indicates the Relatives Rates of Nectar Collecting and Nectar Processing in Honey Bee Colonies', Animal Behavior 47(2), 311-316.
Sherman, P.W.: 1988, 'The Levels of Analysis', Animal Behavior 36, 616-619.
Tinbergen, N.: 1963, 'On the Aims and Methods of Ethology', Z. Tierpsychol. 20, 410-433.
Tofts, C. and N.R. Franks: 1992, 'Doing the Right Thing: Ants, Honeybees and Naked Mole-Rats', TREE 7, 346-349.
Wilson, E.O.: 1971, The Insect Societies, Harvard University Press, Cambridge.
Wimsatt, W.: 1987, 'False Models as Means to Truer Theories', in M.H. Nitecki and A. Hoffman (eds), Neutral Models in Biology, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 23-55.
Winston, M.: 1987, The Biology of the Honey Bee, Harvard University Press, Cambridge.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mitchell, S.D. Integrative Pluralism. Biology & Philosophy 17, 55–70 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1012990030867
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1012990030867