Universal Plotkinism: A review of Henry Plotkin's Darwin machines and the nature of knowledge

Plotkin's Darwin Machines and the Nature of Knowledge (1993) is a major con tribution to the field of evolutionary epistemology and universal Darwinism . Evolutionary epistemology is the idea that evolution is a knowledge-gaini ng process. Universal Darwinism holds that processes of variation and selec tion can be observed at different levels from the primary level of biologic al evolution (where genes code for phenotypes) through to individual learni ng and culture (where the units of variation and selection are not so clear cut). Although antithetical to behaviorism, large parts of Plotkin's thesi s can be recast in nonmentalistic terms and exploited by behavior analysts. In particular, Plotkin's arguments for a strong commonality of process bet ween biological evolution and individual learning offer directions for prog ress on questions that have long interested behavior analysis, such is: Why do some organisms learn? How did learning evolve? What is the relation bet ween behavior and evolution? Although the paths of connection between evolu tion and individual behavior that Plotkin sketches are not yet fully clear of confusion, his is undoubtedly a very stimulating direction to explore.