Levels of Selection Are Artefacts of Different Fitness Temporal Measures

Abstract

Abstract In this paper I argue against the claim, recently put forward by some philosophers of biology and evolutionary biologists, that there can be two or more ontologically distinct levels of selection. I show by comparing the fitness of individuals with that of collectives of individuals in the same environment and over the same period of time – as required to decide if one or more levels of selection is acting in a population – that the selection of collectives is a by‐product of selection at the individual level; thus, talking about two or more levels of selection represents merely a different perspective on one and the same process.

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