There is No Paradox of Evolution: A Reply to Feser

Edward Feser, in his recent paper ‘Life, Reproduction, and the Paradox of Evolution’, argues that reproduction cannot be explained by natural selection, and as a result is irreducibly teleological. And further, since definitions of life depend on the concept of reproduction, the definition of life is irreducibly teleological as well. It will be argued here that Feser does not make his case. At issue is the absence of an appropriate distinction between “replicability” and “reproduction”. Natural selection can, then, explain reproduction, as reproduction is just selected-for replicability.