Are evolutionary explanations unfalsifiable? Evolutionary psychology and the Lakatosian philosophy of science

Are the methods and strategies that evolutionary psychologists use to gener ate and test hypotheses scientifically defensible? This target article addr esses this question by reviewing principles of philosophy of science that a re used to construct and evaluate metatheoretical research programs and app lying these principles to evaluate evolutionary psychology. Examples of evo lutionary models of family violence, sexual jealousy, and male parental inv estment are utilized to evaluate whether the procedures for developing and testing evolutionary psychological models are consistent with contemporary philosophy of science. Special attention is paid to the generation of compe ting theories and hypotheses within a single evolutionary framework. It is argued that this competition is a function of the multiple levels of scient ific explanation employed by evolutionary psychologists, and that this expl anatory system adheres to the Lakatosian philosophy of science. The charge that evolutionary theories and hypotheses are unfalsifiable is unwarranted and has its roots in a commonly accepted, but mistaken, Popperian view of h ow science operates. Modem evolutionary theory meets the Lakatosian criteri on of "progressivity, " based on its ability to digest apparent anomalies a nd generate novel predictions and explanations. Evolutionary psychology has the hallmarks of a currently progressive research program capable of provi ding us with new knowledge of how the mind works.