title: Inclusive fitness maximization: An axiomatic approach.
abstract: Kin selection theorists argue that evolution in social contexts will lead organisms to behave as if maximizing their inclusive, as opposed to personal, fitness. The inclusive fitness concept allows biologists to treat organisms as akin to rational agents seeking to maximize a utility function. Here we develop this idea and place it on a firm footing by employing a standard decision-theoretic methodology. We show how the principle of inclusive fitness maximization and a related principle of quasi-inclusive fitness maximization can be derived from axioms on an individual׳s 'as if preferences' (binary choices) for the case in which phenotypic effects are additive. Our results help integrate evolutionary theory and rational choice theory, help draw out the behavioural implications of inclusive fitness maximization, and point to a possible way in which evolution could lead organisms to implement it.
authors: Department of Philosophy, University of Bristol, 9 Woodland Road, Bristol BS8 1TB, United Kingdom. Electronic address: Samir.Okasha@bristol.ac.uk.
authors: Samir
authors: S
authors: Okasha
authors: Department of Economics, Vanderbilt University, VU Station B #351819, 2301 Vanderbilt Place, Nashville, TN 37235-1819, USA. Electronic address: john.weymark@vanderbilt.edu.
authors: John A
authors: JA
authors: Weymark
authors: Department of Economics and CIREQ, University of Montreal, P.O. Box 6128, Station Downtown, Montreal, QC, Canada H3C 3J7. Electronic address: walter.bossert@umontreal.ca.
authors: Walter
authors: W
authors: Bossert
mesh_terms: D056084:Genetic Fitness; D008957:Models, Genetic
keywords: Hamilton׳s rule; Inclusive fitness; Kin selection; Rational choice