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Why the Gene Will Not Return*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Elisabeth A. Lloyd
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Abstract

I argue that four of the fundamental claims of those calling themselves ‘genic pluralists’—Philip Kitcher, Kim Sterelny, and Ken Waters—are defective. First, they claim that once genic selectionism is recognized, the units of selection problems will be dissolved. Second, Sterelny and Kitcher claim that there are no targets of selection (interactors). Third, Sterelny, Kitcher, and Waters claim that they have a concept of genic causation that allows them to give independent genic causal accounts of all selection processes. I argue that each one of these claims is either false or misleading. Moreover, the challenge that arises from the availability of genic causal accounts, namely, the inability to choose on rational grounds among genic and higher-level accounts, is unsupported.

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Research Article
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Philosophy of Science , Volume 72 , Issue 2 , April 2005 , pp. 287 - 310
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Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

‡

My ideas in this paper have benefited greatly from interactions with Stephen Downes, Melinda Fagan, Stephen Crowley, James Griesemer, Richard Lewontin, Ken Waters, Elliott Sober, Jay Odenbaugh, David Hull, Patrick Forber, Peter Godfrey-Smith, Gordon McOuat, Michael Dietrich, Rasmus Winther, Michael Weisberg, Roberta Millstein, Rob Cummins, Jordi Cat, Kent Van Cleave, two anonymous referees from Philosophy of Science, and the Biology Studies Reading Group at Indiana University.

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