Abstract
The ‘Major Transitions in Evolution’ (MTE) framework has emerged as the dominant paradigm for understanding the origins of life's hierarchical organization, but it has been criticized on the grounds that it lacks theoretical unity, that is, that the events included in the framework do not constitute a coherent category. I agree with this criticism, and I argue that the best response is to modify the framework so that the events it includes do comprise a coherent category, one whose members share fundamental similarities. Specifically, I recommend defining major transitions as all those, and only those, events and processes that result in the emergence of a new population of evolutionary individuals. Two sorts of change will be required to achieve this. First, events and processes that do not meet this criterion, such as the origins of the genetic code and of human language, should be excluded. Second, events and processes that do meet the criterion, but which have generally been neglected, should be included. These changes would have the dual benefits of making MTEs a philosophically coherent category and of increasing the sample size on which we may infer trends and general principles that may apply to all MTEs.
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Acknowledgements
This work was inspired by a conversation with Maureen O'Malley and Russell Powell that played out on my personal blog, and I am grateful for their thoughtful discussion. Some of the ideas herein undoubtedly originated in conversations with my Ph.D. co-advisor, Rick Michod, whose influence on my thinking has been profound. Will Ratcliff, Peter Conlin, Javier Suárez Díaz, and Charles Lindsey provided useful feedback on an early draft. Thoughtful comments from Rick Michod, Sam Scheiner, and two anonymous reviewers substantially improved the manuscript, for which I am grateful. This material is based upon work while serving at the National Science Foundation and while supported by grants from the National Science Foundation (DEB-1723293) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NNA17BB05A).
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This material is based upon work while serving at the National Science Foundation and while supported by grants from the National Science Foundation (DEB-1723293) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NNA17BB05A).
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Herron, M.D. What are the major transitions?. Biol Philos 36, 2 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10539-020-09773-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10539-020-09773-z