On Pluralism and Competition in Evolutionary Explanations

A controversy arose concerning the adaptive significance ofclitoral orgasm, disputing whether the presence of the traitin females is explained by appeal to developmental processesor natural selection (Gould, 1987a, b; Alcock, 1987). In response,Sherman (1988) offered a pluralistic solution in terms of levelsof analysis in which Gould and Alcock's disagreement was construedas semantic and not substantial. I argue that Sherman's solutionis mistaken. I suggest that the nature of the Gould/Alcock disputeis better understood by considering the abstract structure ofscientific theories and their role in explanation. This accountleads to a representation of science as having a plurality oftheoretical models which are integrated piecemeal in the explanationof concrete phenomena.