The Causal Structure of Natural Selection

Contemporary arguments concerning the nature of causation in evolutionary theory, now often known as the debate between the “causalist” and “statisticalist” positions, have involved answers to a variety of independent questions – definitions of key evolutionary concepts like natural selection, fitness, and genetic drift; causation in multi-level systems; or the nature of evolutionary explanations, among others. In recent work, I have argued that a significant cluster of these questions, largely concerning causation, can be disconnected from the larger group and analyzed in isolation, allowing, I hope, for more fruitful engagement between the philosophy of biology and the metaphysics of science. Natural selection poses an under-studied but nonetheless not unique sort of causal structure that merits further exploration. In this talk, I will present some of these results, and highlight some of the exciting opportunities for future research that I believe this engagement could provide.