학술논문

What Fitness Can't Be
Document Type
Report
Source
Erkenntnis: An International Journal of Analytic Philosophy. Nov, 2009, Vol. 71 Issue 3, p289, 13 p.
Subject
Population genetics
Language
English
ISSN
0165-0106
Abstract
Recently advocates of the propensity interpretation of fitness have turned critics. To accommodate examples from the population genetics literature they conclude that fitness is better defined broadly as a family of propensities rather than the propensity to contribute descendants to some future generation. We argue that the propensity theorists have misunderstood the deeper ramifications of the examples they cite. These examples demonstrate why there are factors outside of propensities that determine fitness. We go on to argue for the more general thesis that no account of fitness can satisfy the desiderata that have motivated the propensity account.