There is no asymmetry of identity assumptions in the debate over selection and individuals

Helgeson, Casey ORCID: 0000-0001-5333-9954 (2015) There is no asymmetry of identity assumptions in the debate over selection and individuals. Philosophy of Science, 82 (1). pp. 21-31. ISSN 0031-8248

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Abstract

A long-running dispute concerns which adaptation-related explananda natural selection can be said to explain. (The issue is conceptual, not empirical { and orthogonal adaptationism.) At issue are explananda of the form: why a given individual organism has a given adaptation rather than that same individual having another trait. It is broadly agreed that one must be ready to back up a `No' answer with an appropriate theory of trans-world identity for individuals. I argue, against the conventional wisdom, that the same is true for a `Yes' answer. My conclusion recasts the landscape and opens the door to a potential resolution.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	http://www.press.uchicago.edu/
Additional Information:	© 2014 The Philosophy of Science Association
Divisions:	Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General) Q Science > Q Science (General)
Date Deposited:	19 Aug 2014 13:44
Last Modified:	24 Apr 2024 18:15
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/59051

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