PhilSci Archive

The Unity of Fitness

Abrams, Marshall (2008) The Unity of Fitness. In: UNSPECIFIED.

[img]
Preview
PDF
AbramsUnityOfFitness11052008.pdf

Download (122kB)

Abstract

It's been argued that fitness cannot always be defined as expected number of offspring; different, more complex functions are required for different contexts. Brandon (1990) argues that fitness therefore merely satisfies a common schema. Other authors (Ariew and Lewontin, 2004; Krimbas, 2004) argue that no unified mathematical characterization of fitness is possible. I focus on comparative fitness, explaining that though comparative fitness must be relativized to an evolutionary effect which fitness differences help cause, thus relativized it can be given a unitary mathematical definition in terms of probabilities of producing offspring of various types and various other effects. Fitness will sometimes be defined in terms of probabilities of effects occurring over the long term, but I argue that these probabilities nevertheless concern effects occurring over the short term.


Export/Citation: EndNote | BibTeX | Dublin Core | ASCII/Text Citation (Chicago) | HTML Citation | OpenURL
Social Networking:
Share |

Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item (UNSPECIFIED)
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCID
Abrams, Marshall
Additional Information: Pre-conference version; paper will be revised for publication.
Keywords: fitness, natural selection, models, causation
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Biology > Evolutionary Theory
Depositing User: Marshall Abrams
Date Deposited: 06 Nov 2008
Last Modified: 07 Oct 2010 15:17
Item ID: 4311
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Biology > Evolutionary Theory
Date: 2008
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/4311

Monthly Views for the past 3 years

Monthly Downloads for the past 3 years

Plum Analytics

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item