History of Science and Technology Colloquium

In recent evolutionary theory, multi-level selection models have attracted considerable attention. In these models, natural selection acts simultaneously at more than one level of the biological hierarchy, e.g. the individual level and group level, leading to interesting evolutionary outcomes. I analyse a number of philosophical issues that arise in multi-level selection theory. In particular, can selection at one level ever be 'reduced' to selection at another? Can selective processes at different levels causally affect each other? Does the notion of emergence have a role to play, in understanding multi-level selection?

Cosponsored by the Minnesota Center for Philosophy of Science.