Natural Selection and the Nature of Statistical Explanations

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Roger Deulofeu Batllori
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4554-9756

Abstract

There is a widespread philosophical interpretation of natural selection in evolutionary theory: natural selection, like mutation, migration, and drift are seen as forces that propel the evolution of populations. Natural selection is thus a population level causal process. This account has been challenged by the Statistics, claiming that natural selection is not a population level cause but rather a statistical feature of a population. This paper examines the nature of the aforementioned ontological debate and the nature of statistical explanations given by population genetics. I claim that the Modern Synthesis provides good explanations of the changes in trait structure of populations without appealing to detailed causal information about the individual trajectories of the members of a population.

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How to Cite
Deulofeu Batllori, R. (2023). Natural Selection and the Nature of Statistical Explanations. Crítica. Revista Hispanoamericana De Filosofía, 55(165), 27–52. https://doi.org/10.22201/iifs.18704905e.2023.1465

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