Oct 21, 2019
One of the high points of David's professional life has been to work with Elliott Sober, Hans Reichenbach Professor and William F. Vilas Research Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin. Elliott has made foundational contributions to many topics in evolutionary science, including his and David's collaboration on multilevel selection (MLS) theory.
In this conversation, they discuss the roots of MLS theory and more, including the subtlety of Darwin, what Bret Weinstein misses about group selection, the problem of the averaging fallacy, and path dependency in scholarship.
Links from the Episode
1:05- Upcoming Debate with
David Sloan Wilson (video) and also see "What
Bret Weinstein Gets Wrong About Group Selection" (TVOL
article)
1:42- Elliott Sober's 1993 book, The Nature of Selection:
Evolutionary Theory in Philosophical Focus
1:50-1:57-
"Reviving
the Superorganism" (Wilson & Sober 1989), "Reintroducing
Group Selection to the Human Behavioral Sciences" (Wilson &
Sober 1994), and their book,
Unto Others (1998).
2:12- Elliott Sober's 2010 book, Did
Darwin Write the Origin Backwards? Philosophical Essays on Darwin's
Theory
22:58- "Altruism
in Mendelian Populations Derived from Sibling Groups: The Haystack
Model Revisited" (Wilson 1987)
31:20- Michael Gilpin's 1975 book,
Group Selection in Predator-Prey Communities
Also see "The Mathematics of Kindness" (TVOL article)