Niklas Parwez
Heinrich-Heine University
In many evolutionary models, the concept of fitness is understood probabilistically due to stochastic variations in the survival and reproductive success of organisms. The Propensity Interpretation of Fitness (PIF) acknowledges this by conceptualizing fitness as a Single-Case Propensity (SCP). In this talk, I will challenge this view by arguing that SCP values do not systematically correlate with actual or hypothetical frequencies, leading to the epistemic inaccessibility of corresponding fitness measures. To provide an epistemically meliorative metaphysical foundation for the PIF, I will propose an alternative characterization of propensities as dispositional properties of repeatable experimental setups manifesting in epistemically certain limiting frequencies. By showing how to apply fitness measures so construed to prima facie problematic cases, such as cyclic or chaotic evolutionary dynamics, I will defend this approach against various objections in the current literature.
Chair: Isa Kooiman
Time: September 13th, 10:40 – 11:10
Location: SR 1.004
SOPhiA 2026 