Life, the universe and everything

Andy Gardner

doi:10.1007/s10539-013-9417-8

Life, the universe and everything

Andy Gardner^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The Formal Darwinism project probes the connections between the dynamics of natural selection and the design of organisms. Here, I explain why this work should be of interest to philosophers, arguing that it is the natural development in a long-running scholarly enquiry into the meaning of life. I then review some of my own work which has applied the tools of Formal Darwinism to address issues concerning the units of adaptation in social evolution, leading to a deeper understanding of the adaptation of individual organisms. Finally, I sketch some directions Formal Darwinism to explore beyond the biological sciences, with a focus upon cosmology.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	207-215
Number of pages	9
Journal	Biology and Philosophy
Volume	29
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10539-013-9417-8
Publication status	Published - Mar 2014

Keywords

Anthropic bias
Cosmological natural selection
Design
Group selection
Inclusive fitness
Multi-level selection
Optimization
Selfish gene
Superorganism
Natural selection
Formal theory
Adaptation
Covariance

Access to Document

10.1007/s10539-013-9417-8

Andy Gardner awaiting trf LM105: University Research Fellowship
Gardner, A. (PI)
The Royal Society
1/08/13 → 30/09/14
Project: Fellowship

Cite this

@article{523d95a31e314e01baf9bf7c8e729e5c,

title = "Life, the universe and everything",

abstract = "The Formal Darwinism project probes the connections between the dynamics of natural selection and the design of organisms. Here, I explain why this work should be of interest to philosophers, arguing that it is the natural development in a long-running scholarly enquiry into the meaning of life. I then review some of my own work which has applied the tools of Formal Darwinism to address issues concerning the units of adaptation in social evolution, leading to a deeper understanding of the adaptation of individual organisms. Finally, I sketch some directions Formal Darwinism to explore beyond the biological sciences, with a focus upon cosmology.",

keywords = "Anthropic bias, Cosmological natural selection, Design, Group selection, Inclusive fitness, Multi-level selection, Optimization, Selfish gene, Superorganism, Natural selection, Formal theory, Adaptation, Covariance",

author = "Andy Gardner",

year = "2014",

month = mar,

doi = "10.1007/s10539-013-9417-8",

language = "English",

volume = "29",

pages = "207--215",

journal = "Biology and Philosophy",

issn = "0169-3867",

publisher = "Springer",

number = "2",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Life, the universe and everything

AU - Gardner, Andy

PY - 2014/3

Y1 - 2014/3

N2 - The Formal Darwinism project probes the connections between the dynamics of natural selection and the design of organisms. Here, I explain why this work should be of interest to philosophers, arguing that it is the natural development in a long-running scholarly enquiry into the meaning of life. I then review some of my own work which has applied the tools of Formal Darwinism to address issues concerning the units of adaptation in social evolution, leading to a deeper understanding of the adaptation of individual organisms. Finally, I sketch some directions Formal Darwinism to explore beyond the biological sciences, with a focus upon cosmology.

AB - The Formal Darwinism project probes the connections between the dynamics of natural selection and the design of organisms. Here, I explain why this work should be of interest to philosophers, arguing that it is the natural development in a long-running scholarly enquiry into the meaning of life. I then review some of my own work which has applied the tools of Formal Darwinism to address issues concerning the units of adaptation in social evolution, leading to a deeper understanding of the adaptation of individual organisms. Finally, I sketch some directions Formal Darwinism to explore beyond the biological sciences, with a focus upon cosmology.

KW - Anthropic bias

KW - Cosmological natural selection

KW - Design

KW - Group selection

KW - Inclusive fitness

KW - Multi-level selection

KW - Optimization

KW - Selfish gene

KW - Superorganism

KW - Natural selection

KW - Formal theory

KW - Adaptation

KW - Covariance

U2 - 10.1007/s10539-013-9417-8

DO - 10.1007/s10539-013-9417-8

M3 - Article

SN - 0169-3867

VL - 29

SP - 207

EP - 215

JO - Biology and Philosophy

JF - Biology and Philosophy

IS - 2

ER -

Life, the universe and everything

Abstract

Keywords

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Projects

Andy Gardner awaiting trf LM105: University Research Fellowship

Cite this