Why the Causal View of Fitness Survives.

We critically examine Denis Walsh's latest attack on the causalist view of fitness. Relying on Judea Pearl's Sure-Thing Principle and geneticist John Gillespie's model for fitness, Walsh has argued that the causal interpretation of fitness results in a reductio. We show that his conclusion only foll...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Philosophy of Science Vol. 78; no. 2; pp. 209 - 225
Autores principales: Otsuka, Jun, Turner, Trin, Allen, Colin, Lloyd, Elisabeth A.
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Cambridge University Press Apr2011
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
Descripción
Sumario:We critically examine Denis Walsh's latest attack on the causalist view of fitness. Relying on Judea Pearl's Sure-Thing Principle and geneticist John Gillespie's model for fitness, Walsh has argued that the causal interpretation of fitness results in a reductio. We show that his conclusion only follows from misuse of the models, that is, (1) the disregard of the real biological bearing of the population-size parameter in Gillespie's model and (2) the confusion of the distinction between ordinary probability and Pearl's causal probability. Properly understood, the models used by Walsh do not threaten the causalist view of fitness.