   This is a claim about the efficiency of tools. No matter how incorrect it may ultimately be to invoke natural selection as a sufficient explanation for a trait, it is the most direct way possible to find the true causal explanation of a trait. Methodological adaptationism differs markedly from empirical adaptationism in that the former acknowledges the possibility that natural selection may ultimately prove not to have the most influence on a given trait's evolution. In addition, a methodological adaptationist can accept that an apparent discrepancy between data and the predictions of a model of natural selection may be resolved by concluding that the trait is little influenced by natural selection, instead of by concluding that the model is incorrect.