Natural selection. VII. History and interpretation of kin selection theory

TL;DR

This paper reviews the historical development and interpretative evolution of kin selection theory, emphasizing causal analysis and its role in understanding social evolution and natural patterns.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive history of kin selection theory, highlighting how causal analysis and key biological patterns advanced its development.

Findings

Causal analysis of kin selection evolved to include complex factors.

Natural history patterns like dispersal influenced theory development.

Integration of quantitative trait analysis enriched causal understanding.

Abstract

Kin selection theory is a kind of causal analysis. The initial form of kin selection ascribed cause to costs, benefits, and genetic relatedness. The theory then slowly developed a deeper and more sophisticated approach to partitioning the causes of social evolution. Controversy followed because causal analysis inevitably attracts opposing views. It is always possible to separate total effects into different component causes. Alternative causal schemes emphasize different aspects of a problem, reflecting the distinct goals, interests, and biases of different perspectives. For example, group selection is a particular causal scheme with certain advantages and significant limitations. Ultimately, to use kin selection theory to analyze natural patterns and to understand the history of debates over different approaches, one must follow the underlying history of causal analysis. This article describes the history of kin selection theory, with emphasis on how the causal perspective improved through the study of key patterns of natural history, such as dispersal and sex ratio, and through a unified approach to demographic and social processes. Independent historical developments in the multivariate analysis of quantitative traits merged with the causal analysis of social evolution by kin selection.