Natural Selection's Explanatory Scope
Published In
Philosophy Compass
Document Type
Citation
Publication Date
8-23-2022
Abstract
There are ongoing debates in philosophy of biology about what falls within natural selection's explanatory scope. These include debates about whether selection can explain individual-level traits, the extent to which selection can explain distributions of trait frequencies, and whether selection can explain the origin of novel traits. Here I'll survey these debates, suggest which views seem most plausible, and describe some useful conceptual frameworks for thinking about the issues involved.
Rights
© 2022 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Locate the Document
DOI
10.1111/phc3.12881
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/38453
Citation Details
McLoone, B. (2022). Natural Selection's Explanatory Scope. Philosophy Compass, e12881.