The Philosophy of Social Evolution

From mitochondria to meerkats, the natural world is full of spectacular examples of social behaviour. In the early 1960s Bill Hamilton changed the way we think about how such behaviour evolves. He introduced three key innovations - now known as Hamilton’s rule, kin selection, and inclusive fitness - which have been enormously influential, but which remain the subject of fierce controversy.Jonathan Birch presents the first book-length philosophical study of social evolution. He places social evolution theory on a firm conceptual footing and sets out exciting new directions for further work. The book will be illuminating reading for philosophers of science, evolutionary biologists, and evolutionary social scientists.