title: Selection explanations of token traits.
abstract: The "negative view" is the claim that natural selection cannot explain why a particular individual has one trait, rather than another. Here, I modify an example from Lewens (2001) to show that this claim is sometimes false. I then advance a variation on the negative view. It is the claim that selection at the organism level within a lineage cannot explain why a particular individual in that lineage has one allele, rather than another. This formulation better describes the explanatory role of selection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Philosophy, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 5185 Helen C. White Hall, 600 North Park Street, Madison, WI 53706, USA. mcloone@wisc.edu
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: McLoone
mesh_terms: D008957:Models, Genetic; D010641:Phenotype; D012641:Selection, Genetic
keywords: Explanation; Natural selection; Negative view; Tim Lewens