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Goals are not selfish

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 April 2014

William von Hippel  and
Frank A. von Hippel
William von Hippel
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, University of Queensland, St Lucia QLD 4072, Australia. billvh@psy.uq.edu.auhttp://www.psy.uq.edu.au/directory/index.html?id=1159
Frank A. von Hippel
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alaska Anchorage, Anchorage, AK 99508. favonhippel@uaa.alaska.eduhttp://www.uaa.alaska.edu/enri/people/Fellows/vonHippel/
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Abstract

The metaphor of selfish goals is misguided. Organisms can be considered vessels that further the interests of their genes, but not vessels that further the interests of their goals. Although goals can act at cross-purposes to each other and to longevity, such trade-offs are predicted by evolutionary theory. The metaphor of selfish goals provides no purchase on this problem.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 37 , Issue 2 , April 2014 , pp. 157 - 158
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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