Conference: Ciprian Jeler, "The meaning and explanatory roles of selective mechanisms in evolutionary biology"
November 19, at 13:00 (Argentine time) +info: info@sadaf.org.ar o anfibiogrupo@gmail.com Abstract Philosophers have recently been debating about whether – and in what sense – natural selection can be construed as a “mechanism.” In order to provide a surer footing for this dispute, I offer here a clarification of the technical sense of the notion of “selective mechanism” used by evolutionary biologists. More specifically, I argue that, when they are looking for the selective mechanism involved in a selection process, evolutionary biologists try to identify: a) a “performance trait” trait that serves as a mediator for the causal influence of the focal trait on reproductive success; b) a “selective agent” that serves as a moderator of the causal influence of the focal trait on the relevant performance trait. I use empirical studies of selection in order to show how these two notions are used in tandem in practice. I also insist on definitional issues concerning th...