The objects of selection

One of the most basic questions of evolutionary biology is what objects are being selected in the process of natural selection? Lloyd (1) found nearly 200 references to books and papers by biologists and philosophers, beginning with Darwin, that treated this question, “and these represent just a fraction of the literature on the topic,” she reports. Indeed in the recent literature the answer to this question has been argued each year by at least a half dozen authors. This analysis is not a review paper. The listing of the literature is therefore reduced to a minimum. All relevant titles can be found in the works of Lloyd (1) and Brandon (2). An analysis of this literature has convinced me that some basic conceptual differences, as well as the opponents’ failure to adhere to a rigorous definition of the terms, are the major causes of the confusion. Evidently a new approach that attempts a careful critique of the arguments of the opposing parties is needed. This is what I am attempting here.