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Evolution and the Explanation of Meaning

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Simon M. Huttegger
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Abstract

Signaling games provide basic insights into some fundamental questions concerning the explanation of meaning. They can be analyzed in terms of rational choice theory and in terms of evolutionary game theory. It is argued that an evolutionary approach provides better explanations for the emergence of simple communication systems. To substantiate these arguments, I will look at models similar to those of Skyrms (2000) and Komarova and Niyogi (2004) and study their dynamical properties. My results will lend partial support to the thesis that evolution leads to communication. In general, states of partial communication may evolve with positive probability under standard evolutionary dynamics. However, unlike states of perfect communication, they are unstable relative to neutral drift.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 74 , Issue 1 , January 2007 , pp. 1 - 27
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

‡

I would like to thank Brian Skyrms for his advice and encouragement. I am also grateful to Georg Dorn, Bill Harms, Josef Hofbauer, Gerhard Jäger, Natalia Komarova, Hannes Leitgeb, Don Saari, Kevin Zollman, two anonymous referees, and the editor of Philosophy of Science for many helpful suggestions and comments. Most of this paper was written during a stay at the Department of Logic and Philosophy of Science at the University of California at Irvine, whose members I wish to thank for their hospitality and kindness. My research was supported by the Institut für Wissenschaftstheorie of the Internationales Forschungszentrum Salzburg and the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research.

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