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The Inclusive Fitness Controversy: Finding a Way Forward

Birch, Jonathan (2017) The Inclusive Fitness Controversy: Finding a Way Forward. [Preprint]

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Abstract

This paper attempts to reconcile critics and defenders of inclusive fitness by constructing a synthesis that does justice to the insights of both. I argue that criticisms of the regression-based version of Hamilton’s rule, although they undermine its use for predictive purposes, do not undermine its use as an organizing framework for social evolution research. I argue that the assumptions underlying the concept of inclusive fitness, conceived as a causal property of an individual organism, are unlikely to be exactly true in real populations, but they are approximately true given a specific type of weak selection that Hamilton took, on independent grounds, to be responsible for the cumulative assembly of complex adaptation. Finally, I reflect on the uses and limitations of “design thinking” in social evolution research.


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Item Type: Preprint
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCID
Birch, Jonathanj.birch2@lse.ac.uk0000-0001-7517-4759
Keywords: social evolution, inclusive fitness, Hamilton’s rule, kin selection, natural selection, adaptation.
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Biology > Evolutionary Theory
Depositing User: Dr Jonathan Birch
Date Deposited: 23 Jun 2017 17:01
Last Modified: 23 Jun 2017 17:01
Item ID: 13150
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Biology > Evolutionary Theory
Date: 21 June 2017
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/13150

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