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Series:   Elements in the Philosophy of Biology

Facts, Conventions, and the Levels of Selection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 August 2021

Pierrick Bourrat
Pierrick Bourrat
Affiliation:
Macquarie University, Sydney

Summary

Debates concerning the units and levels of selection have persisted for over fifty years. One major question in this literature is whether units and levels of selection are genuine, in the sense that they are objective features of the world, or merely reflect the interests and goals of an observer. Scientists and philosophers have proposed a range of answers to this question. This Element introduces this literature and proposes a novel contribution. It defends a realist stance and offers a way of delineating genuine levels of selection by invoking the notion of a functional unit.
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Keywords

natural selectionPrice equationconventionalismlevels of selectionunits of selection
Type
Element
Information
Series: Elements in the Philosophy of Biology
Online ISBN: 9781108885812
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication: 23 September 2021

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Facts, Conventions, and the Levels of Selection
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Save element to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Facts, Conventions, and the Levels of Selection
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