There Is No Asymmetry of Identity Assumptions in the Debate over Selection and Individuals. Issue 1 (January 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Helgeson, Casey
• Is Part Of: Philosophy of science. Volume 82:Issue 1(2015)
• Page Start: 21
• Page End: 31
• Publication Date: 2015-01
• Subjects: Science -- Periodicals; Science -- Philosophy; Science; Science -- Philosophy; Philosophie des sciences; Epistemology; Periodicals; 501
• DOI: 10.1086/679114
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1539-767X

Abstract

Abstract : A long-running dispute concerns which adaptation-related explananda natural selection can be said to explain. (The issue is conceptual—not empirical—and orthogonal adaptationism.) At issue are explananda of the form: why a given individual organism has a given adaptation rather than that same individual having another trait. It is broadly agreed that one must be ready to back up a "no" answer with an appropriate theory of trans-world identity for individuals. I argue, against the conventional wisdom, that the same is true for a "yes" answer. My conclusion recasts the landscape and opens the door to a potential resolution.