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128From survivors to replicators: evolution by natural selection revisitedBiology and Philosophy 29 (4): 517-538. 2014.For evolution by natural selection to occur it is classically admitted that the three ingredients of variation, difference in fitness and heredity are necessary and sufficient. In this paper, I show using simple individual-based models, that evolution by natural selection can occur in populations of entities in which neither heredity nor reproduction are present. Furthermore, I demonstrate by complexifying these models that both reproduction and heredity are predictable Darwinian products (i.e. …Read more
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116Levels, Time and Fitness in Evolutionary Transitions in IndividualityPhilosophy, Theory, and Practice in Biology 7 (20150505). 2015.Yes, fitness is the central concept of evolutionary biology, but it is an elusive concept. Almost everyone who looks at it seriously comes out in a different place
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29Generalizing Contextual AnalysisActa Biotheoretica 64 (2): 197-217. 2016.Okasha, in Evolution and the Levels of Selection, convincingly argues that two rival statistical decompositions of covariance, namely contextual analysis and the neighbour approach, are better causal decompositions than the hierarchical Price approach. However, he claims that this result cannot be generalized in the special case of soft selection and argues that the Price approach represents in this case a better option. He provides several arguments to substantiate this claim. In this paper, I …Read more
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45It is striking that the concept of fitness although fundamental in evolutionary theory, still remains ambiguous. I argue here that time, although usually neglected, is an important parameter in regards to the concept of fitness. I will show some of the benefits of taking it seriously using the example of recent debates over evolutionary transitions in individuality. I start from Okasha's assertion that once an evolutionary transition in individuality is completed an ontologically new level of se…Read more
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Areas of Specialization
Philosophy of Biology |
Evolutionary Biology |
Philosophy of Cognitive Science |
General Philosophy of Science |