Selfish Genes
- LAST REVIEWED: 24 November 2021
- LAST MODIFIED: 25 October 2017
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199941728-0094
- LAST REVIEWED: 24 November 2021
- LAST MODIFIED: 25 October 2017
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199941728-0094
Introduction
In its original formulation, Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection was based upon individual organisms. It is individuals that vary in phenotype, individuals that struggle to survive environmental pressures and compete over access to mates, and individuals that vary in fitness according to phenotype. Selfish gene theory, or the gene’s-eye view of evolution, however, offers a radically different picture of evolution by natural selection. Tracing its origins to the emergence of population genetics during the modern synthesis of the 1930s, especially to the writings of R. A. Fisher, as well as the social evolution models of W. D. Hamilton, the most ambitious form of the gene’s-eye view was spelled out in two later books: George Williams’s Adaptation and Natural Selection (1966) and Richard Dawkins’s The Selfish Gene (1976). Under this view of life, the fundamental unit of selection is the gene. Whereas individual organisms are temporary occurrences—present in one generation, gone in the next—genes are potentially immortal and their structure is passed on from generation to generation. As a consequence, the ultimate beneficiary of selection is the gene. Early on in The Selfish Gene, Dawkins relates this crucial insight as follows: “They are in you and me; they created us, body and mind; and their preservation is the ultimate rationale for our existence. They have come a long way, those replicators. Now they go by the name of genes, and we are their survival machines” (p. 21). Few phrases in science have caught the imagination of laymen and professionals alike the way “selfish genes” has done. The concept touches on several questions of interests to both biologists and philosophers, including how to articulate general principles of evolution and the units and levels of selection debate. The concept has contributed to the study of new biological phenomena, such as selfish genetic elements, greenbeard genes, and extended phenotypes. Finally, its association with selfishness and altruism has led to it being featured heavily in broader debates about morality and ethics.
Original Works
Two books stand out in the origin story of selfish gene thinking. The first of these was Williams 1966, in which “selection at the genic level” is held as a contrast to group selection explanations for traits, especially in relation to social behavior. The Selfish Gene (Dawkins 1976), published a decade later in 1976, was aimed at a broader audience and argued forcefully for genes to occupy the central role in evolutionary explanations. Both are very readable, and still offer excellent introductions to the gene’s-eye view of evolution.
Dawkins, R. 1976. The selfish gene. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.
The million-copy bestseller that coined several of the terms used in the debate, including selfish genes, replicator, survival machine, and meme.
Williams, G. C. 1966. Adaptation and natural selection: A critique of some current evolutionary thought. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press.
Williams’s critique of the poor use of the concept of adaptation among contemporary biologists, especially with respect to group selection. Together with The Selfish Gene, introduced the gene’s-eye view of evolution to biology.
Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content on this page. Please subscribe or login.
How to Subscribe
Oxford Bibliographies Online is available by subscription and perpetual access to institutions. For more information or to contact an Oxford Sales Representative click here.
Article
- Adaptation
- Adaptive Radiation
- Altruism
- Ancient DNA
- Behavioral Ecology
- Canalization and Robustness
- Cancer, Evolutionary Processes in
- Character Displacement
- Coevolution
- Cognition, Evolution of
- Constraints, Evolutionary
- Contemporary Evolution
- Convergent Evolution
- Cooperation and Conflict: Microbes to Humans
- Cooperative Breeding in Insects and Vertebrates
- Creationism
- Cryptic Female Choice
- Darwin, Charles
- Darwinism
- Disease Virulence, Evolution of
- Diversification, Diversity-Dependent
- Ecological Speciation
- Endosymbiosis
- Epigenetics and Behavior
- Epistasis and Evolution
- Eusocial Insects as a Model for Understanding Altruism, Co...
- Eusociality
- Evidence of Evolution, The
- Evolution
- Evolution and Development: Genes and Mutations Underlying ...
- Evolution and Development of Individual Behavioral Variati...
- Evolution, Cultural
- Evolution of Animal Mating Systems
- Evolution of Antibiotic Resistance
- Evolution of New Genes
- Evolution of Plant Mating Systems
- Evolution of Specialization
- Evolutionary Biology of Aging
- Evolutionary Biomechanics
- Evolutionary Computation
- Evolutionary Developmental Biology
- Evolutionary Ecology of Communities
- Experimental Evolution
- Extinction
- Field Studies of Natural Selection
- Fossils
- Founder Effect Speciation
- Frequency-Dependent Selection
- Fungi, Evolution of
- Gene Duplication
- Gene Expression, Evolution of
- Gene Flow
- Genetics, Ecological
- Genome Evolution
- Geographic Variation
- Gradualism
- Group Selection
- Heterochrony
- Heterozygosity
- History of Evolutionary Thought, 1860–1925
- History of Evolutionary Thought before Darwin
- History of Evolutionary Thought Since 1930
- Human Behavioral Ecology
- Human Evolution
- Hybrid Speciation
- Hybrid Zones
- Identifying the Genomic Basis Underlying Phenotypic Variat...
- Inbreeding and Inbreeding Depression
- Inclusive Fitness
- Innovation, Evolutionary
- Islands as Evolutionary Laboratories
- Kin Selection
- Land Plants, Evolution of
- Landscape Genetics
- Landscapes, Adaptive
- Language, Evolution of
- Latitudinal Diversity Gradient, The
- Macroevolution
- Macroevolutionary Rates
- Male-Male Competition
- Mass Extinction
- Mate Choice
- Maternal Effects
- Medicine, Evolutionary
- Meiotic Drive
- Mimicry
- Modern Synthesis, The
- Molecular Clocks
- Molecular Phylogenetics
- Mutation Rate and Spectrum
- Mutualism, Evolution of
- Natural Selection in Human Populations
- Natural Selection in the Genome, Detecting
- Neutral Theory
- New Zealand, Evolutionary Biogeography of
- Niche Construction
- Niche Evolution
- Non-Human Animals, Cultural Evolution in
- Origin and Early Evolution of Animals
- Origin of Eukaryotes
- Origin of Life, The
- Paradox of Sex
- Parental Care, Evolution of
- Parthenogenesis
- Personality Differences, Evolution of
- Phenotypic Plasticity
- Phylogenetic Comparative Methods and Tests of Macroevoluti...
- Phylogenetic Trees, Interpretation of
- Phylogeography
- Polyploid Speciation
- Population Genetics
- Population Structure
- Post-Copulatory Sexual Selection
- Psychology, Evolutionary
- Punctuated Equilibria
- Quantitative Genetic Variation and Heritability
- Reaction Norms, Evolution of
- Reinforcement
- Reproductive Proteins, Evolution of
- Selection, Directional
- Selection, Disruptive
- Selection Gradients
- Selection, Natural
- Selection, Sexual
- Selfish Genes
- Sequential Speciation and Cascading Divergence
- Sexual Conflict
- Sexual Selection and Speciation
- Sexual Size Dimorphism
- Speciation
- Speciation Genetics and Genomics
- Speciation, Geography of
- Speciation, Sympatric
- Species Concepts
- Species Delimitation
- Sperm Competition
- Stasis
- Systems Biology
- Taxonomy and Classification
- Tetrapod Evolution
- The Philosophy of Evolutionary Biology
- Theory, Coalescent
- Trends, Evolutionary
- Wallace, Alfred Russel