Essays on Darwinism 3: Genic and Organismic Selection Barry McMullin, School of Electronic Engineering, Dublin City University, Dublin 9, IRELAND. May 1992 Technical Report: bmcm9203 ABSTRACT: --------- The notion that {\em genes\/} play a uniquely distinguished \role\ in biological evolution has been championed by Richard Dawkins \cciteD{Dawkins:SelfishGene,Dawkins:NewSelfishGene}. Furthermore, Dawkins has argued that this idea can be generalised in a way which makes it applicable to any properly Darwinian evolutionary process, at least if that process gives rise to a growth in adaptive complexity \cciteAD{Dawkins:UniversalDarwinism}. It is evident, therefore, that if Dawkins' analysis is correct, it has profound implications for any attempt to realise a growth of adaptive complexity in {\em artificial systems\/} by Darwinian means. This essay is concerned with a detailed evaluation and critique of Dawkins' claims, and, to a lesser extent, of the related analysis carried out by David L.~Hull (\ociteD{Hull:IndividualityAndSelection,Hull:UnitsOfEvolution}). It provides a reformulation which, it is claimed, captures the core of valid insights which these workers have achieved while, at the same time, avoiding certain confusions and misconceptions which might otherwise be read into their views. The essay draws on concepts introduced in two previous essays (McMullin \ociteD{McMullin:DarwinianOntology,McMullin:Organismic}); the three essays are therefore best read in conjunction with each other. +++++++++++++++++++++++ .bib entry for *this* TR: ------------------------- @TECHREPORT{ McMullin:GenicAndOrganismic, AUTHOR = "Barry McMullin", TITLE = "Essays on Darwinism. 3: Genic and Organismic Selection", INSTITUTION = "School of Electronic Engineering, Dublin City University", YEAR = "1992", MONTH = "May", NUMBER = "{\tt bmcm9203}", TYPE = "Technical Report", ADDRESS = "Dublin 9, Ireland", URL = "ftp://ftp.eeng.dcu.ie/pub/autonomy/bmcm9203/" } +++++++++++++++++++++++++ REFERENCES: ----------- @BOOK{ Dawkins:SelfishGene, AUTHOR = "Richard Dawkins", TITLE = "The Selfish Gene", PUBLISHER = "Oxford University Press", ADDRESS = "Oxford", YEAR = 1976, NOTE = "See also \citeAD{Dawkins:NewSelfishGene}" } @BOOK{ Dawkins:NewSelfishGene, AUTHOR = "Richard Dawkins", TITLE = "The Selfish Gene", EDITION = "New", PUBLISHER = "Oxford University Press", ADDRESS = "Oxford", YEAR = 1989, NOTE = "This is a significantly revised edition of \cciteAD{Dawkins:SelfishGene}, with endnotes and two new chapters added" } @INCOLLECTION{ Dawkins:UniversalDarwinism, AUTHOR = "Richard Dawkins", TITLE = "Universal Darwinism", CROSSREF = "Bendall:MoleculesToMen", CHAPTER = 20, PAGES = "403--425" } @BOOK{ Bendall:MoleculesToMen, EDITOR = "D. S. Bendall", TITLE = "Evolution from Molecules to Men", BOOKTITLE = "Evolution from Molecules to Men", PUBLISHER = "Cambridge University Press", ADDRESS = "Cambridge", YEAR = 1983 } @ARTICLE{ Hull:IndividualityAndSelection, AUTHOR = "David L. Hull", TITLE = "Individuality and Selection", JOURNAL = "Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics", YEAR = 1980, VOLUME = 11, PAGES = "311--332" } @INCOLLECTION{ Hull:UnitsOfEvolution, AUTHOR = "David L. Hull", TITLE = "Units of Evolution: A Metaphysical Essay", CROSSREF = "Jensen:PhilosophyOfEvolution", CHAPTER = 1, PAGES = "23--44" } @BOOK{ Jensen:PhilosophyOfEvolution, EDITOR = "U. J. Jensen and R. Harr\'{e}", TITLE = "The Philosophy of Evolution", BOOKTITLE = "The Philosophy of Evolution", PUBLISHER = "The Harvester Press Limited", ADDRESS = "Brighton, Sussex", YEAR = 1981, SERIES = "Harvester Studies in Philosophy", NOTE = "General Editor: Margaret A. Boden" } @TECHREPORT{ McMullin:DarwinianOntology, AUTHOR = "Barry McMullin", TITLE = "Essays on Darwinism. 1: Ontological Foundations", INSTITUTION = "School of Electronic Engineering, Dublin City University", YEAR = "1992", MONTH = Mar, NUMBER = "{\tt bmcm9201}", TYPE = "Technical Report", ADDRESS = "Dublin 9, Ireland", URL = "ftp://ftp.eeng.dcu.ie/pub/autonomy/bmcm9201/" } @TECHREPORT{ McMullin:Organismic, AUTHOR = "Barry McMullin", TITLE = "Essays on Darwinism. 2: Organismic Darwinism", INSTITUTION = "School of Electronic Engineering, Dublin City University", YEAR = "1992", MONTH = Apr, NUMBER = "{\tt bmcm9202}", TYPE = "Technical Report", ADDRESS = "Dublin 9, Ireland", URL = "ftp://ftp.eeng.dcu.ie/pub/autonomy/bmcm9202/" } +++++++++++++++++++++++