Annotation Metadata
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^"permissions":^"read":ӶӺ,"update":ӶӺ,"delete":ӶӺ,"admin":ӶӺ°,"user":^"id":6,"name":"Sarah Oberbichler"°,"id":"Ho8jwb01f6","ranges":Ӷ^"start":"/divӶ3Ӻ/divӶ4Ӻ/divӶ1Ӻ/pӶ8Ӻ","startOffset":0,"end":"/divӶ3Ӻ/divӶ4Ӻ/divӶ1Ӻ/pӶ8Ӻ","endOffset":1761°Ӻ,"quote":"Given this central notion of fit, the radical constructivist theory of knowledge is essentially a cybernetic theory in that it is based on the principle of adaptation to constraints rather than the principle of causation. Ӷ6Ӻ Adaptation to constraints is, of course, a well-known concept in Darwinian and neo-Darwinian theories of evolution. In that context, ‘adaptation’ is the result of the selective effects the environment has on populations of organisms who manifest a certain degree of variability. The criterion of selection is of stark simplicity: an organism either has what it takes to survive in the given environment, or it hasn’t. To say of an organism that it is “adapted to” or “fits” its environment, therefore, is to say that it possesses biological and behavioral features that have enabled it to survive (and procreate) up to now, in spite of whatever constraints (i.e., obstacles, inimical conditions, disasters, etc.) its environment has imposed on it. From the fact that organisms are viable, however, we cannot derive a description of the environment because, whatever the viable organisms are like, they constitute only one out of an unlimited number of possibilities that would also be viable. \nIn the evolutionary context, the viability of organisms is tantamount to survival, and survival is a binary affair.Ӷ7Ӻ An organism either survives or it doesn’t. It has no way of changing its genetic make-up when some genetic feature turns out to be counterproductive. There is no learning in evolution, only natural selection against variations that impede viability. Errors are fatal and they cannot be corrected in individual organisms. They can be “corrected” only in the population of the species by eliminating the deficient organisms.","highlights":Ӷ^"jQuery321078215333829526132":^°°,^"jQuery321078215333829526132":^°°,^"jQuery321078215333829526132":^°°,^"jQuery321078215333829526132":^°°,^"jQuery321078215333829526132":^°°,^"jQuery321078215333829526132":^°°,^"jQuery321078215333829526132":^°°,^"jQuery321078215333829526132":^°°Ӻ,"text":"","order":"mw-content-text","category":"Argumentation2","data_creacio":1568972088347°
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