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Hamilton's two conceptions of social fitness

Birch, Jonathan ORCID: 0000-0001-7517-4759 (2016) Hamilton's two conceptions of social fitness. Philosophy of Science, 83 (5). pp. 848-860. ISSN 0031-8248

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Identification Number: 10.1086/687869

Abstract

Hamilton introduced two conceptions of social fitness, which he called neighbour-modulated fitness and inclusive fitness. Although he regarded them as formally equivalent, a re-analysis of his own argument for their equivalence brings out two important assumptions on which it rests: weak additivity and actor's control. When weak additivity breaks down, neitherfi tness concept is appropriate in its original form. When actor's control breaks down, neighbour-modulated fitness may be appropriate, but inclusive fitness is not. Yet I argue that, despite its more limited domain of application, inclusive fitness provides a distinctively valuable perspective on social evolution.

Item Type: Article
Official URL: http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/phos/current
Additional Information: © 2016 Philosophy of Science Association
Divisions: Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General)
H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Date Deposited: 14 Mar 2016 10:40
Last Modified: 07 Mar 2024 04:12
Projects: Philip Leverhulme Prize
Funders: Leverhulme Trust
URI: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/65710

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