nucleation

LIT-2003: Major evolutionary transitions in individuality

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StatusActive
Version2
Tagsphilosophy-of-biology, individuation, altruism
Cited as “paper” byNOTE-1538 — West, Fisher, Gardner and Kiers — Major evolutionary transitions in individuality
Cited as “source” byTHEORY-1351 — In West, Fisher, Gardner and Kiers's account, a transition in individuality is defined by two separable conditions, mutual dependence (parts that once replicated alone can replicate only within the larger unit) and negligible within-group conflict, and proceeds by forming a cooperative group and then transforming it, with no clear border between the steps; across transitions what explains them is an ecological benefit to cooperation together with group formation that unites the members' interests (clonal bottlenecks, lifetime monogamy, vertical transmission of clonal symbionts), while kin discrimination and the repression of competition played relatively minor roles

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West, S. A., Fisher, R. M., Gardner, A., Kiers, E. T. (2015). Major evolutionary transitions in individuality. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(33), 10112–10119. doi:10.1073/pnas.1421402112.

Key takeaways

  • Two defining conditions, mutual dependence and negligible conflict, and each occurs without the other: social aphids, Melipona (Table 1).
  • Two steps, group formation then transformation, which “may not have clear borders”.
  • Clonal, monogamous or vertically transmitted group formation, not policing or kin discrimination, removes conflict within species.

Standing in the record

The record holds the transitions through Okasha’s philosophy-of-science reading (LIT-749, NOTE-586), the scaffolding accounts (LIT-188, LIT-1927, LIT-1940) and the endosymbiosis cases. It has not held the two-step account itself. The reading bears on QUESTION-277, CLAIM-474 and THEORY-141 (NOTE-1538).

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