 9. Pluralism. Methodological pluralism is a natural consequence of historicist approaches. Historical study discloses that the various sciences employ quite different methods and often harbor competing research programs. The emergence of philosophy of biology as a specialty area in the wake of the 1959 Darwin centennial added substance to this claim. (For entries into the pluralism literature, see Dupré 1993; Galison &amp; Stump 1996; Mitchell 2003; and Kellert et al. 2006.)