Adaptationism and Optimality combines contributions from biologists and philosophers, and offers a systematic treatment of foundational, conceptual, and methodological issues surrounding the theory of adaptationism. It reflects the dramatic changes in our understanding of evolution that have occurred in the last twenty years.

Introduction; 1. A likelihood framework for the phylogenetic analysis of adaptation David A. Baum and Michael J. Donoghue; 2. Adaptation, phylogenetic inertia, and the method of controlled comparisons Steven Orzack and Elliott Sober; 3. Optimality and phylogeny: a critique of current thought Hudson Kern Reeve and Paul W. Sherman; 4. Fit of form and function, diversity of life, and procession of life as an evolutionary game Joel S. Brown; 5. Optimality and evolutionary stability under short-term and long-term selection Ilan Eshel and Marcus W. Feldman; 6. Selective regime and fig wasp sex ratios: towards sorting rigor from pseudo-rigor in tests of adaptation Edward Allen Herre, Carlos A. Machado, and Stuart A. West; 7. Is optimality over the hill? The fitness landscapes of idealized organisms George W. Gilchrist and Joel G. Kingsolver; 8. Adaptation, optimality, and the meaning of phenotypic variation in natural populations Kenneth J. Halama and David N. Reznick; 9. Adaptationism, optimality models, and tests of adaptive scenarios Peter Abrams; 10. Adaptation and development: on the lack of common ground Ron Amundson; 11. Three kinds of adaptationism Peter Godfrey-Smith; 12. Adaptation, adaptationism, and optimality Egbert Giles Leigh, Jr.