Social semantics: toward a genuine pluralism in the study of social behaviour
Open Access
- 23 July 2007
- journal article
- editorial
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Journal of Evolutionary Biology
- Vol. 21 (1) , 368-373
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1420-9101.2007.01396.x
Abstract
Pluralism is the coexistence of equivalent theoretical frameworks, either because they are historically entrenched or because they achieve separate insights by viewing the same process in different ways. A recent article by West et al. [Journal of Evolutionary Biology (2007) vol. 20, 415-432] attempts to classify the many equivalent frameworks that have been developed to study the evolution of social behaviour. This article addresses shortcomings in the West et al.'s article, especially with respect to multilevel selection, in a common effort to maximize the benefits of pluralism while minimizing the semantic costs.Keywords
This publication has 33 references indexed in Scilit:
- Direct fitness or inclusive fitness: how shall we model kin selection?Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 2006
- Group Competition, Reproductive Leveling, and the Evolution of Human AltruismScience, 2006
- Balancing synthesis with pluralism in sociobiologyJournal of Evolutionary Biology, 2006
- Local migration promotes competitive restraint in a host–pathogen 'tragedy of the commons'Nature, 2006
- Maynard Smith on the levels of selection questionBiology & Philosophy, 2006
- Sex causes altruism. Altruism causes sex. Maybe.Proceedings Of The Royal Society B-Biological Sciences, 2004
- How to Make a Kin Selection ModelJournal of Theoretical Biology, 1996
- Does population viscosity promote kin selection?Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 1992
- Inclusive fitness in a homogeneous environmentProceedings Of The Royal Society B-Biological Sciences, 1992
- The genetical evolution of social behaviour. IJournal of Theoretical Biology, 1964