Suárez, Mauricio (2019) The Complex Nexus of Evolutionary Fitness. [Preprint]

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Abstract

The propensity nature of evolutionary fitness has long been appreciated and is nowadays amply discussed (Abrams, 2009, 2012; Ariew and Ernst, 2009; Ariew and Lewontin, 2004; Beatty and Finsen, 1989; Brandon, 1978; Drouet and Merlin, 2015; Mills and Beatty, 1979; Millstein, 2003, 2016; Pence and Ramsey, 2013; Sober, 1984, 2001, 2013, 2019; Walsh, 2010; Walsh, Ariew, Matthen, 2016; etc). The discussion has, however, on occasion followed long standing conflations in the philosophy of probability literature between propensities, probabilities, and frequencies. In this paper, I apply a more recent conception of propensities in modelling practice (the ‘complex nexus of chance’, CNC) to some of the key issues, regarding the mathematical representation of fitness and how it may be regarded as explanatory. The ensuing complex nexus of fitness (CNF) emphasises the distinction between biological propensities and the probability distributions over offspring numbers that they give rise to; and how critical it is to distinguish the possession conditions of the underlying dispositional (physical and biological) properties from those of their probabilistic manifestations.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Suárez, Mauricio msuarez@filos.ucm.es 0000-0002-2842-3641
Additional Information:	Forthcoming in the European Journal for Philosophy of Science (2021). The deposited document is the final accepted version of the paper, after refereeing, but prior to proofs. The version of record appears in the EJPS only.
Keywords:	Philosophy of Biology (evolution); Philosophy of Probability; Philosophy of Statistics
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Biology Specific Sciences > Biology > Evolutionary Theory Specific Sciences > Probability/Statistics
Depositing User:	Prof Mauricio Suárez
Date Deposited:	24 Dec 2021 03:06
Last Modified:	24 Dec 2021 03:06
Item ID:	20029
Official URL:	https://www.springer.com/journal/13194
DOI or Unique Handle:	10.1007/s13194-021-00434-w
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Biology Specific Sciences > Biology > Evolutionary Theory Specific Sciences > Probability/Statistics
Date:	July 2019
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/20029

Available Versions of this Item

• The Complex Nexus of Evolutionary Fitness. (deposited 24 Oct 2020 19:54)
  • The Complex Nexus of Evolutionary Fitness. (deposited 24 Dec 2021 03:06) [Currently Displayed]

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