A critique of R.d. Alexander's views on group selection
Biology and Philosophy 14 (3):431-449 (1999)
Abstract
Group selection is increasingly being viewed as an important force in human evolution. This paper examines the views of R.D. Alexander, one of the most influential thinkers about human behavior from an evolutionary perspective, on the subject of group selection. Alexander's general conception of evolution is based on the gene-centered approach of G.C. Williams, but he has also emphasized a potential role for group selection in the evolution of individual genomes and in human evolution. Alexander's views are internally inconsistent and underestimate the importance of group selection. Specific themes that Alexander has developed in his account of human evolution are important but are best understood within the framework of multilevel selection theory. From this perspective, Alexander's views on moral systems are not the radical departure from conventional views that he claims, but remain radical in another way more compatible with conventional views.Reprint years
2004
DOI
10.1023/a:1006577511789
My notes
Similar books and articles
Summary of: ‘Unto Others. The evolution and psychology of unselfish behavior'.Elliott Sober & David Sloan Wilson - 2000 - Journal of Consciousness Studies 7 (1-2):185-206.
Morality and Evolution by Group Selection.Michael Byron - 1999 - Http://Www.Bu.Edu/Wcp/Papers/TEth/TEthByro.Htm.
Shifting the Natural Selection Metaphor to the Group Level.Nicholas S. Thompson - 2000 - Behavior and Philosophy 28 (1/2):83 - 101.
Why won't the group selection controversy go away?Samir Okasha - 2001 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 52 (1):25-50.
Transmission coupling mechanisms: cultural group selection.Robert Boyd & Peter J. Richerson - unknown
Maynard Smith on the levels of selection question.Samir Okasha - 2005 - Biology and Philosophy 20 (5):989-1010.
Evolutionary ethics and biologically supportable morality.Michael Byron - 1999 - Proceedings of Twentieth World Congress of Philosophy, PAIDEIA: Philosophy Educating Humanity.
Multilevel selection and the return of group-level functionalism.David Sloan Wilson & Elliott Sober - 1998 - Behavioral and Brain Sciences 21 (2):305-306.
Analytics
Added to PP
2009-01-28
Downloads
93 (#134,008)
6 months
1 (#447,993)
2009-01-28
Downloads
93 (#134,008)
6 months
1 (#447,993)
Historical graph of downloads
Citations of this work
On the inappropriate use of the naturalistic fallacy in evolutionary psychology.Anne B. Clark, Eric Dietrich & David Sloan Wilson - 2003 - Biology and Philosophy 18 (5):669-81.
O problema da individuação na biologia à luz da determinação da unidade de seleção natural.Karla Chediak - 2005 - Scientiae Studia 3 (1):65-78.
Human Groups as Adaptive Units.David Sloan Wilson - 2005 - In Peter Carruthers, Stephen Laurence & Stephen P. Stich (eds.), The Innate Mind: Structure and Contents. Oxford University Press. pp. 78.
References found in this work
The Selfish Gene. [REVIEW]Gunther S. Stent & Richard Dawkins - 1977 - Hastings Center Report 7 (6):33.
Adaptation and Natural Selection: A Critique of Some Current Evolutionary Thought.William C. Wimsatt - 1970 - Philosophy of Science 37 (4):620-623.