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Kin Selection and Its Discontents

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

David C. Queller
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Abstract

Kin selection is a core aspect of social evolution theory, but a small number of critics have recently challenged it. Here I address these criticisms and show that kin selection remains an important explanation for much (though not all) social evolution. I show how many of the criticisms rest on historical idiosyncrasies of the way the field happened to develop, rather than on the real logic and evidence.

Type
50 Years of Inclusive Fitness
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 83 , Issue 5 , December 2016 , pp. 861 - 872
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

†

This material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under grant nos. IOS-1256416 and NSF DEB-1146375, as well as by the John Templeton Foundation grant 43667.

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