Popper On Metaphors
I have made a very modest reformulation of [...] Darwin’s theory of adaptation through selection. His theory states that better-adapted individuals have a greater chance of having offspring. [I]n my view it is a much clearer and better formulation than when people talk of “natural selection” or “the struggle for existence” [which] are nothing but metaphors; they are not theories.1
But “natural selection” is a powerful label for Darwinism. Cohen’s Law: “Everyone knows that the name of the game is what label you succeed in imposing on the facts.” As a label, it conveys much of what it’s about in only two words. It’s a high concept. Still, as Popper points out, a good formulation reveals the limitations of a theory, and clearly conveys what it’s about.
1 From Karl Popper’s essay “The Epistemological Position of Evolutionary Epistemology,” published in the book All Life is Problem Solving.