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    Hamilton's coefficient of relationship should be replaced... — Carmelics
    Home/Moral Responsibility
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    Hamilton's coefficient of relationship should be replaced with a more general correlation coefficient.

    Moral ResponsibilityVirtue Ethics
    ?Rate how convincing each reason is below to see the overall strength.
    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
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    • 1.The coefficient of relationship only captures kinship-based gene sharing.
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    • 2.A more general correlation coefficient reflects the probability that altruist and recipient share genes, whether because of kinship or not.
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    • 3.What is necessary for altruism to evolve is the correlation between altruist and recipient sharing genes, however it is brought about.
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
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    • 1.Hamilton's r is not merely a kinship measure but tracks the probability of identity by descent, which has precise causal-mechanistic grounding in Mendelian genetics.
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    • 2.A generalized correlation coefficient conflates statistical association with the genealogical causation required to explain why gene frequencies change across generations.
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    • 3.Replacing causal-mechanistic coefficients with purely statistical ones risks rendering kin selection explanations descriptively adequate but causally uninformative, as Sober and Steel argue regarding correlation-based models.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
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    • 1.Price's generalization, which grounds the correlation-coefficient approach, applies equally to any trait including arbitrary or maladaptive ones, undermining its explanatory specificity for altruism.
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    • 2.If the correlation coefficient abstracts away from kinship, it loses the connection to inclusive fitness theory that gives Hamilton's Rule its predictive and explanatory bite in real biological populations.
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    Related

    A generalized correlation coefficient conflates statistical association with the...A more general correlation coefficient reflects the probability that altruist an...Hamilton's r is not merely a kinship measure but tracks the probability of ident...If the correlation coefficient abstracts away from kinship, it loses the connect...
    +4 moreShow less
    Price's generalization, which grounds the correlation-coefficient approach, appl...Replacing causal-mechanistic coefficients with purely statistical ones risks ren...The coefficient of relationship only captures kinship-based gene sharing.What is necessary for altruism to evolve is the correlation between altruist and...

    Similar

    If the correlation between partners is sufficiently strong, the condit...78%The coefficient of relationship only captures kinship-based gene shari...77%The condition Prob(W partner/W) = P(W partner/N) and P(N partner/W) = ...76%Altruism evolves under perfect correlation between partners.74%

    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: altruism-biological
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    The importance of kinship for the evolution of altruism is very widely accepted today, on both theoretical and empirical grounds. However, kinship is really only a way of ensuring that altruists and recipients both carry copies of the altruistic gene, which is the fundamental requirement. If altruism is to evolve, it must be the case that the recipients of altruistic actions have a greater than average probability of being altruists themselves. Kin-directed altruism is the most obvious way of s
    Extraction notes

    Validity: Extracted via Max plan + API grounding/validity checks

    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (1 for, 2 against)
    Edits
    1 edit