Cause and Effect in Biology Revisited: Is Mayr's Proximate-Ultimate Dichotomy Still Useful?

Fifty years ago, Ernst Mayr published a hugely influential paper on the nature of causation in biology, in which he distinguished between proximate and ultimate causes. Mayr equated proximate causation with immediate factors (for example, physiology) and ultimate causation with evolutionary explanat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 2011-12, Vol.334 (6062), p.1512-1516
Main Authors: Laland, Kevin N., Sterelny, Kim, Odling-Smee, John, Hoppitt, William, Uller, Tobias
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal migration behavior
Animals
Biological and medical sciences
Biological Evolution
Biology
Biology - history
Causality
Causation
Cultural evolution
Ecological competition
Evolution
Evolution & development
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
General aspects
Genetics of eukaryotes. Biological and molecular evolution
History, 20th Century
Humans
Male
Mayr
Mayr, Ernst
Models, Biological
Natural selection
Phenotypic traits
REVIEW
Theories. Reviews
Theory
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Summary:Fifty years ago, Ernst Mayr published a hugely influential paper on the nature of causation in biology, in which he distinguished between proximate and ultimate causes. Mayr equated proximate causation with immediate factors (for example, physiology) and ultimate causation with evolutionary explanations (for example, natural selection). He argued that proximate and ultimate causes addressed different questions and were not alternatives. Mayr's account of causation remains widely accepted today, with both positive and negative ramifications. Several current debates in biology (for example, over evolution and development, niche construction, cooperation, and the evolution of language) are linked by a common axis of acceptance/rejection of Mayr's model of causation. We argue that Mayr's formulation has acted to stabilize the dominant evolutionary paradigm against change but may now hamper progress in the biological sciences.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.1210879