Does the theory of evolution by natural selection make testable predictions and how should evolutionary theories be tested?

A prevalent issue in the philosophy of science concerns the extent and nature of testability of natural selection in theories of evolution. Karl Popper (1978) famously claimed that evolution (by which he meant natural selection) was a “metaphysical research programme” and therefore not scientific. By Popper’s falsifiability criterion, in order to be demarcated as scientific a theory must make testable predictions. A further criticism lies in the description of natural selection as ‘survival of the fittest’. It has been argued that this statement is tautologous leading to a charge of untestability. In this paper I will argue that natural selection does make testable predictions when viewed on a retrospective adaptionist model and furthermore that evolutionary theories in general should be tested by means of reverse engineering FIX

Natural selection is an important part of Darwin’s larger theory of evolution and has received much attention largely due to ‘survival of the fittest’ and resulting testability. Understood simply, natural selection is the view that evolutionary change arises through a gradual, non- random process which produces variation in each generation. Organisms possessing characteristics which increase the likelihood of survival will have greater opportunity to reproduce and consequently their offspring will benefit through inheritance of these favourable traits. In general, organisms that are best equipped to survive will pass these genes to offspring meaning that over time the trait will become more common in the population. In addition deleterious genes which harm survival chances will become less common as a result of this differential reproduction. In this way we can understand survival of the fittest. EXPAN...

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...liam Harvey's discovery that the heart operates as a pump was an early triumph of such reverse engineering.

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