title: Missing concepts in natural selection theory reconstructions.
abstract: The concept of fitness has generated a lot of discussion in philosophy of biology. There is, however, relative agreement about the need to distinguish at least two uses of the term: ecological fitness on the one hand, and population genetics fitness on the other. The goal of this paper is to give an explication of the concept of ecological fitness by providing a reconstruction of the theory of natural selection in which this concept was framed, that is, based on the way the theory was put to use in Darwin's main texts. I will contend that this reconstruction enables us to account for the current use of the theory of natural selection. The framework presupposed in the analysis will be that of metatheoretical structuralism. This framework will provide both a better understanding of the nature of ecological fitness and a more complete reconstruction of the theory. In particular, it will provide what I think is a better way of understanding how the concept of fitness is applied through heterogeneous cases. One of the major advantages of my way of thinking about natural selection theory is that it would not have the peculiar metatheoretical status that it has in other available views. I will argue that in order to achieve these goals it is necessary to make several concepts explicit, concepts that are frequently omitted in usual reconstructions.
authors.affiliation: National Council of Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET)/Center for Philosophy and History of Science (CEFHIC)-National University of Quilmes (UNQ)/University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina. santi75@gmail.com.|Instituto de Estudios sobre la Ciencia y la Tecnología, Roque Sáenz Peña 352, B1876BXD, Bernal, Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina. santi75@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Santiago
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ginnobili
mesh_terms: D001695:Biology / Q000266:history*; D056084:Genetic Fitness; D005828:Genetics, Population / Q000266:history*; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D008954:Models, Biological; D012641:Selection, Genetic
keywords: Darwin; Ecological fitness; Metatheoretical structuralism; Natural selection theory; Population genetics