Otsuka, Jun (2014) Causal Foundations of Evolutionary Genetics. [Preprint]

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Abstract

The causal nature of evolution is one of the central topics in the philosophy of biology. It has been discussed whether equations used in evolutionary genetics point to some causal processes or are purely phenomenological patterns. To address this question the present paper builds well-defined causal models that underlie standard equations in evolutionary genetics. These models are based on minimal and biologically-plausible hypotheses about selection and reproduction, and generate statistics to predict evolutionary changes. The causal reconstruction of the evolutionary principles shows adaptive evolution as a genuine causal process, where fitness and selection are both causes of evolution.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Otsuka, Jun junotk@gmail.com
Additional Information:	forthcoming in the British Journal for the Philosophy of Science
Keywords:	evolutionary genetics, causal models, Price's equation, selection, fitness
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Biology > Evolutionary Theory General Issues > Causation
Depositing User:	Jun Otsuka
Date Deposited:	23 May 2014 09:08
Last Modified:	23 May 2014 09:08
Item ID:	10693
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Biology > Evolutionary Theory General Issues > Causation
Date:	March 2014
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/10693

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