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How (and why) Darwinian selection restricts environmental feedback

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 November 2001

Mohan Matthen
Mohan Matthen
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver B.C. V6T 1Z1 Canadamohan.matthen@ubc.ca www.arts.ubc.ca/philos/matthen/matthen.htm
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Abstract

Selectionist models date back to Empedocles in Ancient Greece. The novelty of Darwinian selection is that it is able to produce adaptively valuable things without being sensitive to adaptive value. Darwin achieved this result by a restriction of environmental feedback to the replicative process. Immune system selection definitely does not respect this restriction, and it is doubtful whether operant learning does.

Type
Brief Report
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 24 , Issue 3 , June 2001 , pp. 545
Copyright
© 2001 Cambridge University Press

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