Publications [#373380] of Caleb Hazelwood

Papers Published

1. Hazelwood, C, An Emerging Dilemma for Reciprocal Causation, Philosophy of Science, vol. 91 no. 3 (July, 2024), pp. 595-614, Cambridge University Press (CUP) [doi]
   (last updated on 2024/11/04)

   Abstract:
   Among advocates and critics of the “extended evolutionary synthesis” (EES), “reciprocal causation” refers to the view that adaptive evolution is a bidirectional phenomenon, whereby organisms and environments impinge on each other through processes of niche construction and natural selection. I argue that reciprocal causation is incompatible with the view that natural selection is a metaphysically emergent causal process. The emergent character of selection places reciprocal causation on the horns of dilemma, and neither horn can rescue it. I conclude that proponents of the EES must abandon the claim that the process of natural selection features in cycles of reciprocal causation.