The Units of Selection and the Bases of Selection
- 1 September 1991
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in Philosophy of Science
- Vol. 58 (3) , 417-435
- https://doi.org/10.1086/289626
Abstract
A correct analysis of hierarchical selection processes must specify 1) the objects that succeed differentially as units, and 2) the properties that provide the causal bases for differential success. Here I illustrate how failing to recognize the units/bases distinction creates a contradiction in Elliott Sober's recent account of selection. A revised criterion for units of selection is developed and applied to examples at several biological levels. Criteria for bases of selection are discussed in terms of the degree of context-dependence and directness of a property's effect on the success of units. The significance of previous work by Sober, Wimsatt and Brandon is thereby clarified.This publication has 9 references indexed in Scilit:
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