Andre Ariew is a contemporary philosopher of biology at the University of Missouri, specializing in the conceptual and epistemological foundations of evolutionary theory. His work examines teleology, natural selection, and the philosophical status of core biological concepts. He has contributed to debates over how fitness, drift, and selection should be understood as scientific explananda.
Developed influential analyses of teleological explanation in biology and its relation to natural selection
Contributed to debates on the epistemological and cognitive status of the theory of natural selection
Examined the distinction between population-level and individual-level interpretations of fitness
Engaged critically with the conceptual foundations of adaptationism and evolutionary explanation