Emergentism in the biological framework: the case of fitness

Vanesa Triviño1
1Department of Logic and Theoretic Philosophy, Complutense University, Madrid, Spain

Tóm tắt

In this paper, I aim to explore whether fitness, understood as a causal disposition, can be characterized as an emergent property of organisms, or if it is reducible to the anatomical, physiological, and environmentally relative properties that characterize them. In doing so, I refer to Jessica Wilson’s characterization of ontological emergence and examine if fitness meets her criteria for ontological emergent properties (dependence and autonomy); and, if so, to what degree (weak or strong).

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