Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-75dct Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-01T17:30:56.223Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Defining Paradigm Darwinian Populations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

John Matthewson
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article presents an account of the biological populations that can undergo paradigmatic natural selection. I argue for, and develop Peter Godfrey-Smith’s claim that reproductive competition is a core attribute of such populations. However, as Godfrey-Smith notes, it is not the only important attribute. I suggest what the missing element is, co-opting elements of Alan Templeton’s notion of exchangeability. The final framework is then compared to two recent discussions regarding biological populations proposed by Roberta Millstein and Jacob Stegenga.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 82 , Issue 2 , April 2015 , pp. 178 - 197
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

†

Thanks to audiences at PBDB4, ISHPSSB 2011, AAP 2011, and Victoria University of Wellington for their input. I also acknowledge the help and support of Pierrick Bourrat, Patrick Forber, David Gilbert, Alan Hájek, Claire Matthewson, Chris Pincock, Jacob Stegenga, Kim Sterelny, and John Wilkins. Three anonymous reviewers for this journal also contributed extremely useful and generous comments. Finally, a great many thanks to Peter Godfrey-Smith and Roberta Millstein for their extensive help on earlier drafts. None of the above people necessarily agree with the ideas expressed here, and any errors are mine.

References

Barker, M., and Velasco, J. 2013. “Deep Conventionalism about Evolutionary Groups.” Philosophy of Science 80 (5): 971–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crowder, L., Squires, D., and Rice, J. 1997. “Nonadditive Effects of Terrestrial and Aquatic Predators on Juvenile Estuarine Fish.” Ecology 78 (6): 1796–1804.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Godfrey-Smith, P. 2009. Darwinian Populations and Natural Selection. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hanage, W., Fraser, C., and Spratt, B. 2005. “Fuzzy Species among Recombinogenic Bacteria.” BMC Biology 3 (6). doi:10.1186/1741-7007-3-6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kneib, R T. 1982. “The Effects of Predation by Wading Birds (Ardeidae) and Blue Crabs (Callinectes Sapidus) on the Population Size Structure of the Common Mummichog, Fundulus Heteroclitus.” Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 14:159–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lennox, J., and Wilson, B. 1994. “Natural Selection and the Struggle for Existence.” Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 25:65–80.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lewontin, R. 1970. “The Units of Selection.” Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 1:1–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Millstein, R. 2006. “Natural Selection as a Population-Level Causal Process.” British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 57:627–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Millstein, R. 2009. “Populations as Individuals.” Biological Theory 4:267–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Millstein, R. 2010. “The Concepts of Population and Metapopulation in Evolutionary Biology and Ecology.” In Evolution since Darwin: The First 150 Years, ed. Bell, M., Futuyma, D., Eanes, W., and Levinton, J., 61–86. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer.Google Scholar
Nanay, B. 2005. “Can Cumulative Selection Explain Adaptation?” Philosophy of Science 72 (Proceedings): 1099–1112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nanay, B. 2010. “Natural Selection and the Limitations of Environmental Resources.” Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 41:418–19.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Neander, K. 1995. “Pruning the Tree of Life.” British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 46:59–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’Malley, M., and Dupre, J. 2007. “Size Doesn’t Matter: Towards a More Inclusive Philosophy of Biology.” Biology and Philosophy 22:155–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sober, E. 1984. The Nature of Selection: Evolutionary Theory in Philosophical Focus. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Sober, E. 1995. “Natural Selection and Distributive Explanation.” British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 46:384–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stegenga, J. 2014. “Population Pluralism and Natural Selection.” British Journal for the Philosophy of Science. doi:10.1093/bjps/axu003.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Templeton, A. 1989. “The Meaning of Species and Speciation: A Genetic Perspective.” In Speciation and Its Consequences, ed. Endler, D. and Otte, J., 3–27. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer.Google Scholar
Otte, J. 1998. “Species and Speciation: Geography, Population Structure, Ecology, and Gene Trees.” In Endless Forms: Species and Speciation, ed. Howard, D. J. and Berlocher, S. H., 32–43. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar