Professor Samir Okasha

Search results

• 2025

  Chance and purpose in the evolution of biospheres

  Donoghue, P. C. J., Lenton, T. M., Okasha, S., Shields, G. A. & Spang, A., 2 Jun 2025, (Accepted/In press) In: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal)

• Function, Chance and Purpose in the Biosphere: a critical examination of the Darwinized Gaia hypothesis

  Hermida, M. & Okasha, S., 15 Jan 2025, (Accepted/In press) In: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review
• 2024

  Cancer and Multi-Level Selection: reply to Gardner

  Okasha, S., 2024, In: British Journal for the Philosophy of Science.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Comment/debate (Academic Journal)

• Cancer and the Levels of Selection

  Okasha, S., 1 Sept 2024, In: British Journal for the Philosophy of Science. 75, 3

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

  Open Access

  • Social Group 100%
  • Cancer Cell 100%
  • detriment 50%
  • Suppression 50%
  • Cooperation 33%
  5 Citations (Scopus)

• Scepticism, Evidential Holism and the Logic of Demonic Deception

  Okasha, S., 14 Feb 2024, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Noûs. 58, 4, p. 1032-1049 18 p.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

  Open Access

  File

  • Deception 100%
  • Holism 100%
  • Philosophy of Science 100%
  54 Downloads (Pure)

• The Significance of Mendelism for Evolutionary Theory: a re-assessment

  Okasha, S., 25 Nov 2024, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology. a041837.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

  Open Access

  File

  • Evolutionary Theory 100%
  • Mendelism 100%
  • Natural Selection 50%
  • Mendelian Genetics 50%
  • Allelism 25%
  61 Downloads (Pure)
• 2023

  Does the anti-essentialist consensus about species rest on a mistake?

  Okasha, S., 27 Nov 2023, (Accepted/In press) In: Australasian Journal of Philosophy.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

  • Mistakes 100%
  • Essentialist 100%
  • Natural Kind 100%
  • Intrinsic 33%
  • Literature 33%

• Goal attributions in biology: objective fact, anthropomorphic bias, or valuable heuristic?

  Okasha, S., 2023, Evolution 'On Purpose': Teleonomy in Living Systems. Cornig, P. A., Kauffman, S. A., Noble, D., Shapiro, J. A., Vane-Wright, R. I. & Pross, A. (eds.). Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Press, p. 237-256 20 p.

  Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter in a book

  Open Access

  • Mental Representation 100%
  • Goal-Directed Behavior 100%

• On the very idea of biological individuality

  Okasha, S., 1 Oct 2023, (E-pub ahead of print) In: British Journal for the Philosophy of Science.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

  Open Access

  File

  • Biological Individuality 100%
  • Methapyrilene 100%
  • Philosophical Issue 100%
  • Mistakes 33%
  • Literature 33%
  129 Downloads (Pure)

• The Concept of Agent in Biology: Motivations and Meanings

  Okasha, S., 28 Jun 2023, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Biological Theory.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

  Open Access

  File

  • Biological Sciences 100%
  • Rational Agent 100%
  15 Citations (Scopus)

  99 Downloads (Pure)

• Towards evolutionary predictions: Current promises and challenges

  Wortel, M. T., Agashe, D., Bailey, S. F., Bank, C., Bisschop, K., Blankers, T., Cairns, J., Colizzi, E. S., Cusseddu, D., Desai, M. M., Dijk, B. V., Egas, M., Ellers, J., Groot, A. T., Heckel, D. G., Johnson, M. L., Kraaijeveld, K., Krug, J., Laan, L. & Lässig, M. & 16 others, Lind, P. A., Meijer, J., Noble, L. M., Okasha, S., Rainey, P. B., Rozen, D. E., Shitut, S., Tans, S. J., Tenaillon, O., Teotónio, H., Visser, J. A. G. M. D., Visser, M. E., Vroomans, R. M. A., Werner, G. D. A., Wertheim, B. & Pennings, P. S., 18 Jan 2023, In: Evolutionary Applications. 16, 1, p. 3-21 19 p.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

  Open Access

  • Evolution 100%
  • Influenza 10%
  • Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome 10%
  • Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat 10%
  • Awareness 10%
  23 Citations (Scopus)
• 2022

  Function in the Light of Frequency-Dependent Selection

  Okasha, S., 2 Oct 2022, In: Australasian Philosophical Review. 6, 4, p. 386-399 14 p.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

  Open Access

  File

  • Frequency Dependent Selection 100%
  • Evolution 100%
  • Dynamics 33%
  13 Downloads (Pure)

• On geometric mean fitness: a reply to Takacs and Bourratt

  Autzen, B. & Okasha, S., 26 Aug 2022, In: Biology and Philosophy. 37, 7 p., 37 (2022).

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

  Open Access

  File

  • scrutiny 100%
  • Literature 100%
  • philosophical literature 100%
  • Geometric Mean 100%
  • Mathematical Measure 50%
  5 Citations (Scopus)

  59 Downloads (Pure)

• Population Genetics (revised)

  Okasha, S., 24 Nov 2022, In: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

  Open Access

• The Major Transitions in Evolution - a philosophy-of-science perspective

  Okasha, S., 7 Feb 2022, In: Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. 10, 793824.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

  Open Access

  File
  6 Citations (Scopus)

  279 Downloads (Pure)
• 2020

  Is there a Bayesian justification of hypothetico-deductive inference?

  Okasha, S. & Thebault, K., Dec 2020, In: Noûs. 54, 4, p. 774-794 21 p.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

  Open Access

  File

  • Justification 100%
  • Deductive inference 100%
  • Bayesianism 33%
  • Idealization 16%
  1 Citation (Scopus)

  135 Downloads (Pure)

• The Price Equation and the Causal Analysis of Evolutionary Change

  Okasha, S. & Otsuka, J., 27 Apr 2020, In: Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Section B Biology. 375, p. 20190365

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

  Open Access
  14 Citations (Scopus)
• 2019

  Philosophy of Biology: a very short introduction

  Okasha, S., 1 Nov 2019

  Research output: Book/Report › Authored book
• 2018

  Agents and Goals in Evolution

  Okasha, S., 12 Jun 2018, Oxford University Press. 254 p.

  Research output: Book/Report › Authored book

• Edwards on Fisher's Fundamental Theorem of Natural Selection

  Okasha, S., 29 Jun 2018, Phylogenetic Inference, Selection Theory, and History of Genetics: selected papers of A.W.F. Edwards with commentaries. Winther, R. (ed.). 1st ed. Cambridge University Press, p. 371-375

  Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter in a book

  Open Access

  File

  • Fundamental Theorem 100%
  • 20th Century 33%
  86 Downloads (Pure)

• Methodological Individualism in Evolutionary Biology and in Social Science

  Okasha, S., 12 Jan 2018, Landscapes of Collectivities. Gissis, S., Shavit, A. & Lamm, E. (eds.). Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Press, p. 245-254

  Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter in a book

  Open Access

  File

  • Social Sciences 100%
  • Methodological Individualism 100%
  • Action 33%
  • Doctrine 33%
  • Philosophy of the social sciences 33%
  47 Downloads (Pure)

• The strategy of endogenization in evolutionary biology

  Okasha, S., 6 Jun 2018, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Synthese. 2018, p. 1-23 23 p.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

  Open Access

  File

  • Empirical 100%
  • Scaffolding 100%
  • Generality 100%
  • Evolution 100%
  9 Citations (Scopus)

  368 Downloads (Pure)
• 2017

  Biology and the Theory of Rationality

  Okasha, S., 2017, How Biology Shapes Philosophy. Livingstone Smith, D. (ed.). 1st ed. Cambridge University Press, p. 161 - 183

  Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter in a book

  Open Access

  File
  1 Citation (Scopus)

  103 Downloads (Pure)
• 2016

  Hamilton's rule, inclusive fitness maximization, and the goal of individual behaviour in symmetric two-player games

  Okasha, S. & Martens, J., Mar 2016, In: Journal of Evolutionary Biology. 29, 3, p. 473-482 10 p.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

  Open Access

  File

  • Exact Version 100%
  • Partial Regression Coefficient 100%
  • Inclusive Fitness 100%
  • Regression Coefficient 33%
  • Original Theory 33%
  22 Citations (Scopus)

  498 Downloads (Pure)

• On Hamilton's Rule and Inclusive Fitness Theory with Non-additive Payoffs

  Okasha, S., Dec 2016, In: Philosophy of Science. 83, 5, p. 873-883 11 p.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

  Open Access

  File

  • Frame-work 100%
  • Conceptual 100%
  • Face 100%
  9 Citations (Scopus)

  563 Downloads (Pure)

• On the Interpretation of Decision Theory

  Okasha, S., Nov 2016, In: Economics and Philosophy. 32, 3, p. 409-433 25 p.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

  Open Access

  File

  • Interpretation 100%
  • Decision Theory 100%
  • Representation 20%
  • Purpose 10%
  • Preference 10%
  41 Citations (Scopus)

  1715 Downloads (Pure)

• The causal meaning of Hamilton's rule

  Okasha, S. & Martens, J., Mar 2016, In: Royal Society Open Science. 3, 9 p., 160037.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

  Open Access

  File

  • Exact Version 100%
  • Partial Regression Coefficient 100%
  • Simple Model 100%
  25 Citations (Scopus)

  393 Downloads (Pure)

• The Relation between Kin and Multi-level Selection: An Approach Using Causal Graphs

  Okasha, S., Jun 2016, In: British Journal for the Philosophy of Science. 67, 2, p. 435-470 36 p.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

  Open Access

  File

  • Causal Graph 100%
  • Causal Representation 100%
  • Causal 100%
  • theorists 20%
  62 Citations (Scopus)

  784 Downloads (Pure)
• 2015

  Kin Selection and its Critics

  Birch, J. & Okasha, S., 2015, In: Bioscience. 65, 1, p. 22-32 11 p.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

  Open Access

  File
  97 Citations (Scopus)

  404 Downloads (Pure)

• On Arrow’s Theorem and Scientific Rationality: Reply to Morreau and Stegenga

  Okasha, S., 2015, In: Mind. 124, 493, p. 279-294 16 p.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

  Open Access

  File

  • Rationality 100%
  • Arrow 100%
  • Theory Choice 100%
  • Social Welfare Function 100%
  • Social Choice 100%
  9 Citations (Scopus)

  512 Downloads (Pure)

• Philosophy of Science: a very short introduction (2nd edition)

  Okasha, S., 2015, Oxford University Press.

  Research output: Book/Report › Authored book
• 2014

  Adaptation, Fitness and the Selection-Optimality Links

  Okasha, S. & Paternotte, C., Mar 2014, In: Biology and Philosophy. 29, 2, p. 225-232 8 p.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

  Open Access

  File
  11 Citations (Scopus)

  461 Downloads (Pure)

• Inclusive Fitness Maximization: An Axiomatic Approach

  Okasha, S., Weymark, J. & Bossert, W., Jun 2014, In: Journal of Theoretical Biology. 350, p. 24-31

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

  Open Access

  File
  8 Citations (Scopus)

  624 Downloads (Pure)

• The Formal Darwinism Project: editors' introduction

  Okasha, S. & Paternotte, C. R., 2014, In: Biology and Philosophy. 29, p. 153-4

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal)

  3 Citations (Scopus)
• 2013

  On a flawed argument against the KK principle

  Okasha, S., Jan 2013, In: Analysis. 73, 1, p. 80-86 7 p.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

  File

  • Fallacy 100%
  • Argument 100%
  • Literature 50%
  • Intensional 50%
  • externalist 50%
  8 Citations (Scopus)

  642 Downloads (Pure)

• Species and Organisms: What are the Problems?

  Okasha, S. & Clarke, E., 2013, From Groups to Individuals: Evolution and Emerging Individuality. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Press, p. 55-76 21 p.

  Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter in a book

• The Evolution of Bayesian Updating

  Okasha, S., 2013, In: Philosophy of Science. 80, 5

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

  20 Citations (Scopus)

• The Origins of Human Cooperation

  Okasha, S., 2013, In: Biology and Philosophy. 28, 5, p. 873-8

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

• Units and Levels of Selection

  Okasha, S., 2013, The Princeton Guide to Evolution. Losos, J. (ed.). Princeton: Princeton University Press, p. 200-6

  Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter in a book

  1 Citation (Scopus)
• 2012

  Emergence, hierarchy and top-down causation in evolutionary biology

  Okasha, S., Feb 2012, In: Interface Focus. 2, 1, p. 49-54 6 p.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

  Open Access

  File

  • Causation 100%
  • Top-down 100%
  • Down-ward Causation 100%
  • Evolution 100%
  • Natural Selection 100%
  51 Citations (Scopus)

  489 Downloads (Pure)

• Evolution and Rationality

  Okasha, S. & Binmore, K. G., 2012, Cambridge University Press.

  Research output: Book/Report › Edited book

• Group adaptation, formal Darwinism and contextual analysis

  Okasha, S. & Paternotte, C. R., Jun 2012, In: Journal of Evolutionary Biology. 25, 6, p. 1127-1139 13 p.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

  Open Access

  File
  25 Citations (Scopus)

  489 Downloads (Pure)

• Social justice, genomic justice, and the veil of ignorance: Harsanyi meets Mendel

  Okasha, S., Mar 2012, In: Economics and Philosophy. 28, 1, p. 43-71 29 p.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

  Open Access

  File

  • Meiosis 100%
  • Justice 100%
  • Immunity 100%
  • Evolution 50%
  • Chromosome Number 50%
  16 Citations (Scopus)

  1043 Downloads (Pure)
• 2011

  Biological Ontology and Hierarchical Organization: a defense of rank-freedom

  Okasha, S., 2011, The Major Transitions in Evolution Reconsidered. Sterelny, K. & Calcott, B. (eds.). Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Press, p. 53-64 11 p.

  Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter in a book

• Experiment, observation, and the confirmation of laws

  Okasha, S., Apr 2011, In: Analysis. 71, 2, p. 222 - 232 11 p.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

  Open Access

  File
  14 Citations (Scopus)

  2973 Downloads (Pure)

• Modelling in Biology and Economics: Editors' Introduction

  Okasha, S. & Weisberg, M., 2011, In: Biology and Philosophy. 26, p. 613-5 2 p.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

• Optimal Choice in the Face of Risk: Decision Theory meets Evolution

  Okasha, S., Jan 2011, In: Philosophy of Science. 78, 1, p. 83 - 104 22 p.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

  File
  23 Citations (Scopus)

  561 Downloads (Pure)

• Precis of 'Evolution and the Levels of Selection'

  Okasha, S., 2011, In: Philosophy and Phenomenological Research. 82, 1, p. 212-20 8 p.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

  2 Citations (Scopus)

• Reply to Sober and Waters

  Okasha, S., 2011, In: Philosophy and Phenomenological Research. 82, 1, p. 241-8 7 p.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

  12 Citations (Scopus)

• Theory choice and social choice: Kuhn versus Arrow

  Okasha, S., Mar 2011, In: Mind. 120, 477, p. 83 - 115 33 p.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

  Open Access

  File

  • Arrow 100%
  • Theory Choice 100%
  • Model Selection 100%
  • Scientific Theory 100%
  • Impossibility 33%
  61 Citations (Scopus)

  3118 Downloads (Pure)