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Test Cases, Resolvability, and Group Selection: A Critical Examination of the Myxoma Case

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Robert A. Wilson
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Abstract

The evolution of the myxoma virus in Australia has been presented for many years as a test case for the hypothesis that group selection can function effectively ‘in the wild.’ This paper critically examines the myxoma case, and argues that its failure as a test case for this hypothesis has broader implications for debates over the levels of selection.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 71 , Issue 3 , July 2004 , pp. 380 - 401
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

‡

I would like to thank audiences at the University of Alberta and at the 2002 meetings of Western Canadian Philosophical Association held in Calgary, as well as two referees for the journal, for their constructive feedback on earlier versions of this paper. The work presented here was written with the financial support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

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