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3 - Units of Selection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2024

Elliott Sober
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin, Madison
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Summary

● Darwin invented the concept of group selection to explain the evolution of traits that lead individuals to improve the fitnesses of others at a fitness cost to self. Such traits are now called “altruistic.” ● Understanding Simpson’s paradox is key to understanding how natural selection can cause altruism to increase in frequency in a meta-population. ● A criterion is derived for when altruism is fitter than selfishness in a meta-population in which there are groups of size 2. The relevance of correlation and genealogical relatedness to the evolution of altruism is discussed, as is the question of whether reciprocal altruism is really a form of selfishness. ● The concepts of cultural group selection and species selection require further refinements in how group fitness needs to be understood. ● In addition to individual selection and group selection, there is a third unit of selection – intragenomic conflict. Meiotic drive is a classic example. ● The reductionist thesis that group and individual selection reduce to selection on genes is criticized, as are conventionalist theses that assert that it is a matter of convenience, not biological fact, whether group selection occurs in a population.

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The Philosophy of Evolutionary Theory
Concepts, Inferences, and Probabilities
, pp. 39 - 76
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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  • Units of Selection
  • Elliott Sober, University of Wisconsin, Madison
  • Book: The Philosophy of Evolutionary Theory
  • Online publication: 01 February 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009376037.004
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  • Units of Selection
  • Elliott Sober, University of Wisconsin, Madison
  • Book: The Philosophy of Evolutionary Theory
  • Online publication: 01 February 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009376037.004
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Units of Selection
  • Elliott Sober, University of Wisconsin, Madison
  • Book: The Philosophy of Evolutionary Theory
  • Online publication: 01 February 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009376037.004
Available formats
×