Metafore migranti e crescita della comunità scientifica: il caso dei paesaggi evolutivi

For several decades now, important and in-depth studies have analyzed scientific metaphors, trying for example to determine a principled distinction between metaphors and models. Not a simple task. Several epistemological features are shared between the two. When some distinction is made, metaphors are sometimes seen as preliminary to exact and rigorous mathematical models. In this article I focus on one and only metaphor of biology: evolutionary landscapes. I describe its role in the development of evolutionary science, moving from its success in several fields in the 1930s and ’40s to deepening its origin in the context of population genetics. By drawing a distinction between native and migrant metaphor, I provide some elements of reflection on the value of metaphor as a generator of common language between separated scientific fields, and as a tool for understanding mod- els. In this way I also suggest overcoming the model vs. metaphor opposition, especially the idea that metaphors are a more rudimental knowledge tool than models.