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Genes, hosts, goals: Disentangling causal dependencies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 April 2014

Bjorn Merker
Bjorn Merker*
Affiliation:
Kristianstad, Sweden SE-29194. [email protected]
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Abstract

The special sense in which the concept of “selfishness” is defined in Dawkins's popularization of basic evolutionary theory is analyzed with regard to its applicability to the relation between goals and those who entertain and pursue them. It is concluded that grounds analogous to those on which independent self-interest vis-á-vis their hosts is attributed to genes in Dawkins's sense are lacking in the case of goals in their relation to those who entertain and pursue them.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 37 , Issue 2 , April 2014 , pp. 150 - 151
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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