>Behaviour, Ecology & Evolution Seminar: > >Inclusive fitness versus multi-level selection: equivalent approaches to >social evolution? > >by Samir Okasha > >Tuesday January 22 2013 16:00 >Part II Lecture Theatre, Zoology Department, Downing Street >Map: http://www.zoo.cam.ac.uk/zooone/department/map.html > >Abstract: >This talk examines the relationship between two alternative approaches >to the evolution of social behaviour: inclusive fitness theory, and >multi-level selection. A growing consensus in evolutionary biology >maintains that these theories are not really competitors, despite what >was once thought, but are in fact 'equivalent'. I argue that this is >correct in a sense, in that it is usually possible to find a correct >expression for gene frequency change using either approach. However this >only shows that the approaches are *predictively* equivalent, not that >they are *causally* equivalent. In general in science, predictive >equivalent is not usually taken to imply equivalence tout court; and I >argue that this general moral applies to the case at hand. I examine a >number of examples where either inclusive fitness or multi-level >selection seems more 'causally appropriate' than the other. I end with a >discussion of the suggestion that inclusive fitness is preferable on the >grounds that it preserves the 'individual as maximizing agent' analogy. > > >We are going for drinks and dinner with Samir after the talk. If you're >interested in coming along, send an email to Bram Kuijper, [email protected]. > >
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