Skip to main content
selectionist

selectionist

1 8.3
A person who believes natural selection drives evolution
  • noun
  • /sɪˈlɛkʃənɪst/
  • Specialized
translation icon : seleccionista
  • As a selectionist, she believes that environmental factors play a crucial role in shaping species.

Examples

  • It is also a view favored by modern group-level selectionists such as David Sloan Wilson.

    Blog text (21)
  • The debate between selectionists and non-selectionists centers on the importance of adaptation in evolution.

  • A selectionist analysis applies to culture, too.

    Blog text (7)
  • I rely on his "population selectionist" argument in grounding my own.

    Academic text (1990)
  • For some mysterious reason, Fuller has reversed the selectionists' position.

    Blog text (16)
  • The selectionist view of scientific knowledge just sketched supports my claim that it is possible to have a consensus on what constitutes a problem and a solution at a given time in history.

    Academic text (1990)
  • I believe that much of the debate between selectionists and non-selectionists is actually a debate over the "engines of variation," rather than the "engines of selection," both of which are necessary for evolution, but which follow rules.

    Blog text (30)
  • A selectionist view of the matter cannot assert any clear line of demarcation between sound science and pseudoscience, even when the institutions of peer review and of unbiased epistemic critique function perfectly.

    Academic text (1990)
  • Niles and I never denied that cases of gradualism would be found, just as the most ardent Darwinian selectionist does not claim exclusivity for his favored mechanism of change, but only a presence overwhelming enough to shape the major patterns of life's history.

    Academic text (1992)
  • Many selectionists argue that natural selection is the primary mechanism of evolution.

Synonyms

Darwinist
vsselectionist
7 6.0

A person who believes species change over time by natural selection

emphasizes natural selection as the main driving force in evolution
Darwinian
vsselectionist
2 7.2

A person who supports the idea that living things change over time by natural selection

emphasizes natural selection as the main driving force in evolution

How Selectionist

Darwinist
7 6.0
selectionist
  • Specialized
1 8.3
agnostic
8 7.2
skeptic
  • US
77 4.1

Surface Forms

selectionist singular
selectionists plural

Morphology

selectionist = selection (transparent) = select + ion + ist

Derived by adding the agentive noun-forming suffix '-ist' to 'selection', denoting a person who holds or advocates the selection view.

Etymology

Selectionist comes from selection ('to choose') plus -ist ('a person who believes or supports'). So a selectionist is someone who believes natural selection is the main force in evolution.