Аннотация:Abstract:This article considers problems that the biologically based general theory of evolution is facing todaywhen it is extrapolated to the problem of scientific progress. It investigates how scientific theories can beinterpreted as replacing each other, about what the external environment of scientific communicationis, what institutions are responsible for the selection of the best theories, and the extent to which theautonomous mechanisms of scientific evolution are differentiated, namely, the mechanisms of randomvariation, natural selection, and inheritance. The authors deploy David Hull’s concept of causalindividuation and Stephen Gould’s concept of semantic individuation, identifying the possibilities ofreconciliation and synthesis of these evolutionary approaches.The authors use “a complex multidimensional environment of scientific communication,” formed bythe social, factual, and time dimensions of scientific communication. This concept “removes” the distinction between local and global optima and, consequently, eliminates the difference between problem-solving and semantic understandings of scientific progress. It concludes that understanding thescientist’s consciousness as a “case-sorting machine” eliminates the apparent inconsistency of the evolutionary metaphor and “saves the evolutionary analogy,” substantiating the independence of the mechanism of random variations from the mechanisms of natural selection and stabilization of knowledge at the population level.