Preadaptation and the explanation of human evolution

The concept of preadaptation, though useful, continues to trouble evolution ary scientists. Usually, it is treated as if it were really adaptation, pro mpting such diverse theorists as Gould and Vrba, and Dennett to suggest its removal from evolutionary theory altogether. In this paper, I argue that t he as-if sense is ill-founded, and that the sense of preadaptation as a pro cess may be defended as unequivocal and generally useful in evolutionary ex planations, even in such problem areas as human evolution.