Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-jr42d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T18:51:02.960Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Genes, hosts, goals: Disentangling causal dependencies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 April 2014

Bjorn Merker
Bjorn Merker*
Affiliation:
Kristianstad, Sweden SE-29194. gyr694c@tninet.se
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The special sense in which the concept of “selfishness” is defined in Dawkins's popularization of basic evolutionary theory is analyzed with regard to its applicability to the relation between goals and those who entertain and pursue them. It is concluded that grounds analogous to those on which independent self-interest vis-á-vis their hosts is attributed to genes in Dawkins's sense are lacking in the case of goals in their relation to those who entertain and pursue them.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 37 , Issue 2 , April 2014 , pp. 150 - 151
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Hamilton, W. D. (1964) The genetical evolution of social behaviour. I & II. Journal of Theoretical Biology 7(1):1–52.Google Scholar
Kirkwood, T. B. L. (1977) Evolution of aging. Nature 270:301–304.Google Scholar
Kirkwood, T. B. L. & Rose, M. R. (1991) Evolution of senescence: Late survival sacrificed for reproduction. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, London Series 332:15–24.Google ScholarPubMed
Nesse, R. M. & Williams, G. C. (1995) Why we get sick: The new science of Darwinian medicine. Times Books.Google Scholar
Stearns, S. C. (2012) Evolutionary medicine: Its scope, interest and potential. Proceeding of the Royal Society, London, Series B 279:4305–21.Google Scholar