Natural Selection vs. Survival of the Fittest

Distinguishing “Survival of the Fittest” from “Natural Selection.”

It’s possible that the only thing greater than the current debate of “evolution” vs. “creation” is the sheer volume of misinformation currently being presented in regard to evolution itself. Although anyone can access certain resources to understand evolution, comprehending it entirely can be a complex matter.

Consider an article from July 18, 2007, on MSNBC called “Why does the survival of the fittest allow runts?” Even from the title, you might notice something. “Survival of the fittest” is given agency, not only does “survival of the fittest” control the traits of our children, this title seems to imply, but it—as though on a whim—also allows our children to become runts. “Man, I hate that ‘survival of the fittest,’” I think from this title, “Always messing with my children.”

When we continue to examine the article, it doesn’t get much better. “Like a secret ingredient to a signature recipe, ‘survival of the fittest’ is a crucial part of the theory of evolution. The fittest individuals survive to mate and pass on their genetic lineage, and the weaker creatures fail to pass on their wimpy genes.” Without “survival of the fittest,” this article seems to imply, our souffle is going to turn into a stew—the stakes of this argument seem to be the theory of evolution as a whole. We also get a personification of genes. We have wimpy genese and we have “fit” genes. In third grade the wimpy genes get beat up by the fit genes. In high school the fit genes date the prom queen—the wimpy gene stays at home playing The Sims. You know the story.

Dave Mosher, our author here, can perhaps be forgiven his rather painful characterizations. After all, he’s not writing for a scientific audience—he’s writing for “the masses” “the proletariat” “the mob” AKA, you and me (presuming, you, like me, do not have a Ph.D in Biology). Dave is just trying to convey the results of a rather nuanced study and make it interesting, entertaining, and whatnot.

But then again, when you consider how little changes give way to bigger problems, you may be less patient with Dave’s creative zest.

Why is it, after all, that most biologists generally don’t use the term “survival of the fittest”? Dave has no qualms with using it—and giving it the agency of a god. After all, what does his first question even mean, “But if that's how it works, where do all the runts in nature come from?” Is that really what this study was asking? Or is that Dave’s take on it?

Now, what phrase do biologists tend to use when they want to accurately describe the systems they’re discussing? “Natural selection.” What is the significance of the distinction?

“Survival of the fittest” is a problematic term. It risks becoming a tautology when applied to biology, since what is termed “fitness” tends to be deemed by what reproduces. As wikipedia glosses the subject, “The reasoning is that if one takes the term "fit" to mean ‘endowed with phenotypic characteristics which improve chances of survival and reproduction’ (which is roughly how Spencer understood it), then ‘survival of the fittest’ can simply be rewritten as ‘survival of those who are better equipped for surviving’.” It’s not, or at least less of a tautology if you bear in mind that most good biologists tend to refer to heritable traits, not individuals.

In short, Dave was wrong. His stated assumption that “Like a secret ingredient to a signature recipe, ‘survival of the fittest’ is a crucial part of the theory of evolution.” To continue the awkward cooking analogy, “survival of the fittest” is not the “secret ingredients”—it’s more like peanut toppings that half your audience might be allergic to. The “secret ingredient” if there is one is not “survival of the fittest” it is “natural selection.” The difference might seem trivial, but it is not if you have any interest in accurately conveying information. As George Will said, “The difference between extra-marital sex and extra marital sex is not to be scoffed at.”

Natural selection, unlike survival of the fittest, is a testable hypothesis—and one that has been complicated by such notions as “neutral theory” which includes a large role of genetic drift in genetic variation, and has been revised to work with Mendel’s work in genetics. Darwin’s work on evolution was impressive, but it alone was not the entire picture of how evolution works. Darwin himself even favored the term “natural selection,” which describes how phenotypes that will help a given species succeed in a given environment tend to become more common among groups of reproducing organisms. Over time, these variations in the frequency of phenotypes will, according to the hypothesis, result in adaptation, and depending on time and context, speciation.

This does not carry the apparent moral connotations that occur when one makes the claim that “survival of the fittest” is important, or has agency, in the theory of evolution. It is a descriptive tool, not a prescriptive one. After all, isn’t it still more efficacious to make use of “artificial selection” in breeding pigs and cows and chickens? We don’t want the chicken to worry so much about surviving the storms—we’ll build them henhouses for that. We want them to lay eggs, and lay a lot of them. Or, we want them to be fat and meaty for when we cook them. We may even want them so fat and meaty that they would almost certainly die were we not taking care of them.

Just the same, just because over time we have grown in certain ways, this does not mean that those ways are inherently good or just or efficacious. Even Darwin argued that a population with strong moral codes might be more able to work together, and thus more able to pass on those phenotypes, than a group of individuals all working for themselves. Dawkin’s (DaWKin, not DaRWin) work on “The Selfesh Gene” might include scientific claims but it can also appear quite misleading, and for an attempt at sociobiological argumentation does not present a particularly compelling picture of human relationships.

Human interaction is far more simple than always only being out for yourself. “Survival of the fittest,” that is, does not really have agency. It is not something that compels you. Although an individual may want to reproduce and to reproduce successfully, that does not mean that every single action works with that end in mind. If you hit their knee and the leg kicks as a reflex, that is not something there to further progress toward the end of reproduction. Although a simplistic and mechanistic example, the leg’s reflex action underscores my point. Countless human actions do not have reproduction as their end. Altruistic impulses, whether they be good or bad, effective or not, exist in their own right and to insist that they are always only working for the self is not the most effective explanation.

Although the work of Dawkins and those with him might be important in its own right for political reasons and certain biological claims, it nevertheless seems to have done more to cloud mass understanding of evolution than to illuminate it. But they may even be a far more sympathetic example than the volumes of far worse arguments and conceptualizations of evolution and natural selection.

Let’s consider an argument from Alan Keyes, entitled, “Survival of the fittest?” The question mark is very important. Alan Keyes ran for president, therefore he must be smart, right?

What does Alan have to add to the discussion? Let’s see:

“Is the debate over evolution a political question? Surely it is, first of all, a scientific question.”

We do already know that “survival of the fittest” must be a question, since, after all, the title includes a question mark. Just following the first two sentences of his post makes me wonder: what? What exactly is the “scientific question” that it is “surely” “first of all”? Is it evolution? The debate over evolution? The question whether the debate over evolution is a political question? Perhaps the “scientific question” Keyes refers to is “Survival of the fittest?” Question indeed, Alan. Question indeed.

“And yet, it is a sign of how far we have strayed from our common sense as citizens that the implications of evolutionary theory for our project of self-government are almost never seriously considered. The American nation and our way of life were founded on an articulated and explicit moral premise – one which the doctrine of evolution directly contradicts. We better start thinking about this.”

What? No, I mean, seriously: What? First of all, evolution is not a “doctrine.” I do not believe that the theory of evolution “contradicts” the “articulated and explicit moral premise” that “The American nation and our way of life” was founded on. Perhaps the “We” that Alan refers to that needs to “start thinking” is actually a “I.” “I better start thinking about this” might be right Alan. Perhaps before you post an essay on the subject.

Alan does take the time to explore that “articulated and explicit moral premise” in his post, explaining:


“‘We hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.’ Those stated principles remain the moral premises of our way of life, and it is on them that we base our commitment to due process, and voting, and representative government and the truth that every human being has rights and an indefeasible dignity that government has to respect.

“And what, according to the Declaration, is the absolutely first principle of justice that our political order respects? It is our common duty to acknowledge the will of the One who made us. The reason that it is necessary to establish government on a basis that limits power in accordance with respect for human dignity and human rights is that those rights and that dignity come from the Creator – God. That's clear. It's straightforward. It's simple.”

It’s simple, clear, and straightforward. Perhaps even, -gasp-, self-evident? There may very well be some reasons that “The Declaration” is not part of the Constitution of The United States of America, you know, the one that is actually held as law. But putting aside that (rather large) problem for now, since The Declaration is still important, let’s consider some of these “simple” claims. What exactly does Alan mean that “the absolutely first principle of justice” that America respects is “our common duty to acknowledge the will of the One who made us.” I’m sorry, haven’t we already pointed out the self-evident truths? Why do we need to rephrase the self-evident truths? Aren’t they, after all, self-evident? And where exactly does the Declaration say we need to acknowledge the “will of the One who made us?” Perhaps we do—in holding the self-evident truths as self-evident. But if we’re already holding the self-evident truths as self-evident, why does Alan feel compelled to make the argument, rephrasing the self-evident truths, that includes acknowledging the will of “the One who made us”? (evidently, Alan is too good to just say “Creator” as the Declaration does)

But, although Alan’s arguments are ripe for contention, all the way through his article, I nevertheless feel compelled to skip to the parts that actually get back on topic. But unfortunately, Alan doesn’t ever really answer that question, “Survival of the Fittest.” His arguments are too large to stay on topic—and so he abandons it altogether.

He ends with a final tip of the hat:

“The empirical evidence, which is just "the way things turn out," does not generally support the claim of the weak, the conquered, or of anybody except those favored by circumstance, and confirmed and affirmed in the result. If our sense of justice relies on "the empirical evidence," there is no compelling case to be made that justice requires respect for the dignity and the rights of any except those who have the power to defend themselves, or to assert their claims and make that assertion stick.”

Is this what Alan thinks the implications of evolution are? Alan, multiple presidential candidate and all in all famous person? Alan might have been better served by simply pointing out the fallacy that such an argument would rely on: “Is” does not equal “ought.” If I am hungry, that doesn’t mean I should be hungry. Just the same, if those who have favorable evolutionary predipositions to a certain environment survive well, that doesn’t mean that they “should” in some sort of transcendtal, supernatural, or objective sense. Just as “natural selection” differentiates from “artificial selection” so does the theory of evolution—a descriptive theory—not entail a prescriptive theory.

For about a zillion more unsorted and unedited comments on the 2001 piece by Keyes, feel free to google it.

When “survival of the fittest” is given agency, instead of being treated for what it is—an ad hoc saying for a far more specific descriptive theory—it provides fodder for those seeking a strawman position to use to “knock down” evolution as a whole—those who, on either side of the debate, concur with Dave’s comments that survival of the fittest is “critical” to evolution.