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Multi-level selection and the explanatory value of mathematical decompositions


Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Clarke, Christopher  ORCID logo  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6225-0115

Abstract

Do multi-level selection explanations of the evolution of social traits deepen the understanding provided by single-level explanations? Central to multi-level explanations is a mathematical theorem: the multi-level Price decomposition. I build a framework through which to understand the explanatory role of such non-empirical decompositions in scientific practice. Applying this general framework to the present case places two tasks on the agenda. The first task is to distinguish the various ways by which one might suppress within-collective variation in fitness, or indeed between-collective variation in fitness. I distinguish five such ways: increasing retaliatory capacity; homogenizing assortment; collapsing either fitness structure or character distribution to a mean value; and boosting fitness uniformly within collectives. I then evaluate the biological interest of each of these hypothetical interventions. The second task is to discover whether one of the right-hand terms of the Price decomposition measures the effect of any of these interventions. On this basis I argue that the multi-level Price decomposition has explanatory value primarily when the sharing-out of collective resources is 'subtractable'. Thus its value is more circumscribed than its champions Sober and Wilson ([1998]) suppose.

Description

Keywords

5003 Philosophy, 50 Philosophy and Religious Studies, 5002 History and Philosophy Of Specific Fields

Journal Title

The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0007-0882
1464-3537

Volume Title

67

Publisher

Oxford University Press (OUP)
Sponsorship
This work was supported by the European Research Council, Grant agreement (284123) under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013).