Izvorni znanstveni članak
https://doi.org/doi: https://doi.org/10.26362/20240102
Environments, Populations, and Natural Selection
Ciprian Jeler
orcid.org/0000-0003-0541-9196
; “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iaşi, Romania
Sažetak
Some biologists and philosophers hold that claims about natural selection need to be relativized to homogeneous selective environments. This classical thesis––especially in the form given to it by Robert Brandon––has been vigorously criticized by Roberta Millstein. In this paper, I assess whether the thesis resists the objections raised by Millstein and to what extent it needs to be amended in light of these objections. More specifically, my discussion shows that Millstein’s critique does bring to light the fact that a delineation of the population(s) involved in the case under consideration is required for demarcating homogeneous selective environments––and in this sense, environmental homogeneity and population delineation are interconnected issues, a point that had been largely implicit before Millstein’s critique. But does this entail abandoning the idea that a selective claim needs to be relativized to a homogeneous environment and replacing it with the idea that it needs to be relativized to a single population, irrespective of whether that population inhabits a homogeneous or heterogeneous environment? I show that the arguments for this latter position are not decisive, and I tentatively propose a way out of the deadlock.
Ključne riječi
environment; environmental homogeneity; natural selection; philosophy of biology; population; Robert Brandon; Roberta Millstein
Hrčak ID:
317601
URI
Datum izdavanja:
4.6.2024.
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