---
title: "2 Adaptive Quotes By Elliott Sober"
description: "2 Adaptive quotes by Elliott Sober. Plus more from Elliott Sober and more Adaptive sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c20/elliott-sober-13087_adaptive_darwin-repeatedly-used-the-hypothesis-of_1350642.jpg"
---

> [Darwin repeatedly used the hypothesis of common ancestry as a platform on which to build his various ideas about testing hypotheses concerning natural selection. He also argued that adaptive similarities provide little or no evidence for common ancestry. Although this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-sober/darwin-repeatedly-used-the-hypothesis-of-common-ancestry-as-a/)

[Elliott Sober](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-sober/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c20/elliott-sober-13087_adaptive_darwin-repeatedly-used-the-hypothesis-of_1350642.jpg)

> [Darwin and his successors have railed against the fallacy of confusing the current utility of a trait with the reason the trait evolved. For example, Darwin argued that skull sutures in mammals did not evolve because they facilitate live birth;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-sober/darwin-and-his-successors-have-railed-against-the-fallacy-of/)

[Elliott Sober](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-sober/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fac/elliott-sober-13087_adaptive_darwin-and-his-successors-have-railed-ag_1687390.jpg)

## More by Elliott Sober

> [From the fact that E is evidence for T and the fact that T entails M, it doesn't follow that E is evidence for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-sober/from-the-fact-that-e-is-evidence-for-t-and-the-fact-that-t-entails-m/)

[Elliott Sober](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-sober/)

> [Evolutionary game theory was originally developed as an alternative to the hypothesis of group selection; now it is clear that game theory models postulate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-sober/evolutionary-game-theory-was-originally-developed-as-an-alternative/)

[Elliott Sober](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-sober/)

> [Earlier attempts to show that simpler theories always have higher prior probabilities have failed, but there is a restricted circumstance in which the claim…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-sober/earlier-attempts-to-show-that-simpler-theories-always-have-higher/)

[Elliott Sober](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-sober/)

> ["Methodological naturalism" and "metaphysical naturalism" are terms that often surface in the continuing battle between evolutionary biology and creationism/intelligent design. The methodological thesis says…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-sober/methodological-naturalism-and-metaphysical-naturalism-are-terms-that/)

[Elliott Sober](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-sober/)

> [The big picture, I think, is that common ancestry is evidentially prior to natural selection in Darwin's theory and in contemporary evolutionary biology as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-sober/the-big-picture-i-think-is-that-common-ancestry-is-evidentially-prior/)

[Elliott Sober](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-sober/)

> [This is not to deny that there are versions of theism that do conflict with evolutionary biology. Young Earth Creationism is an example; it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-sober/this-is-not-to-deny-that-there-are-versions-of-theism-that-do/)

[Elliott Sober](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-sober/)

> [Some philosophical arguments (e.g., in connection with the mind/body problem) look pretty good, while others (e.g., those that criticize moral realism) do not.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-sober/some-philosophical-arguments-e-g-in-connection-with-the-mind-body/)

[Elliott Sober](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-sober/)

> [I have spent a lot of time arguing that the theory of group selection is not the stupid, pernicious doctrine that many biologists once…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-sober/i-have-spent-a-lot-of-time-arguing-that-the-theory-of-group-selection/)

[Elliott Sober](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-sober/)

> [Deism is compatible with evolutionary theory.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-sober/deism-is-compatible-with-evolutionary-theory/)

[Elliott Sober](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-sober/)

> ["Simpler is always better" is an overstatement.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-sober/simpler-is-always-better-is-an-overstatement/)

[Elliott Sober](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-sober/)

> [Group selection and individual selection are just two of the selection processes that have played important roles in evolution. There also is selection within…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-sober/group-selection-and-individual-selection-are-just-two-of-the/)

[Elliott Sober](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-sober/)

> [Instead of thinking of the question of race genealogically, and leaving it open whether vernacular races are genealogical units, the interest in biomedicine has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-sober/instead-of-thinking-of-the-question-of-race-genealogically-and/)

[Elliott Sober](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-sober/)

> [If the organisms in a species now have trait T, and this trait now helps those organisms to survive and reproduce because the trait…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-sober/if-the-organisms-in-a-species-now-have-trait-t-and-this-trait-now/)

[Elliott Sober](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-sober/)

> [Another way to test hypotheses about adaptation is to consider trait variation across a group of species instead of focusing on the trait of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-sober/another-way-to-test-hypotheses-about-adaptation-is-to-consider-trait/)

[Elliott Sober](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-sober/)

> [Evolutionary theory, properly understood, does not conflict with the idea that God occasionally intervenes in nature - for example, by once or twice causing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-sober/evolutionary-theory-properly-understood-does-not-conflict-with-the/)

[Elliott Sober](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-sober/)

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