Optimality modelling in the real world

Bolduc, Jean-Sébastien; Cézilly, Frank

doi:10.1007/s10539-012-9333-3

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 33 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…20-21). 11 Following Bolduc & Cézilly (2012), we might specify the key claims of the optimality model that nutritional ecology assumes: there is a behavior being observed (non-random, regulated food intake), this behavior is optimized in terms of the ratio of nutrients that maximize 'fitness' (or minimize costs), and this is done on various times scales and in specific ecological 10 I thank an anonymous reviewer for highlighting this issue. 11 Similarly: "We are confident that millions of years of natural selection have equipped animals with a physiology that is well qualified to estimate their own nutrient requirements" (Simpson and Raubenheimer 2012, p. 19).…”

Section: Clarifying Assumptions and Specifying The Intension Of 'Nutr...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Everything in moderation or moderating everything? Nutrient balancing in the context of evolution and cancer metabolism

Sholl

2022

Biol Philos

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

While philosophers of science have marginally discussed concepts such as 'nutrient', 'naturalness', 'food', or the 'molecularization' of nutrition, they have yet to seriously engage with the nutrition sciences. In this paper, I offer one way to begin this engagement by investigating conceptual challenges facing the burgeoning field of nutritional ecology and the question of how organisms construct a 'balanced' diet. To provide clarity, I propose the distinction between nutrient balance as a property of foods or dietary patterns and nutrient balancing as an evolved capacity to regulate nutrient intake. This distinction raises conceptual and empirical issues, such as what properties constitute this capacity and whether they are the same in all organisms. Additionally, while scientists use the term 'balancing', its intension and extension need further clarification. Based on the literature, the properties of external nutrient detection, internal sensing of nutrient levels, and organismal regulation could provide a basic recipe for nutrient balancing. Next, using an evolutionary lens, I examine nutrient acquisition in some prokaryotes, slime molds, simple multicellular eukaryotes, and in the quirks of multicellular metabolism to raise questions about the origins and universality of balancing. Finally, I build on this explication of balance and balancing by considering how obesity and cancer might respectively elucidate problems of organismal nutrient imbalances versus disrupted cellular nutrient balancing.

show abstract

Section: Clarifying Assumptions and Specifying The Intension Of 'Nutr...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Everything in moderation or moderating everything? Nutrient balancing in the context of evolution and cancer metabolism

Sholl

2022

Biol Philos

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Una primera posición, algo extrema, niega que los modelos de optimalidad puedan jugar algún rol en determinar las diferencias de fitness dentro de las explicaciones seleccionistas ahistóricas. Esta parece ser la posición tomada por autores como Bolduc y Cézilly (2012). Ellos afirman que: La teoría del forrajeo óptimo, no permite realizar ninguna afirmación acerca de la preeminencia de la selección natural en la evolución pasada de los rasgos, ni del moldeado actual de rasgos por la selección natural.…”

Section: Los Modelos De Optimalidad Y La Selección Natural Ahistóricaunclassified

“…Por ejemplo, algunas acusaciones consisten en señalar que los modelos de optimalidad presuponen el adaptacionismo, y que en consecuencia son infalsables e inútiles (Gould & Lewontin 1979, Gray 1987, Pierce & Ollason 1987. Por otra parte, ha sido argüido recientemente que los modelos de optimalidad reflejan sólo las dinámicas selectivas -no las dinámicas evolutivas como un todo- (Potochnik 2009); y más débilmente, que no reflejan ninguna dinámica en absoluto, o bien porque dan explicaciones de equilibrio de hacia dónde la población será conducida por la selección en el largo plazo, o bien porque meramente permiten identificar factores ambientales que podrían ser relevantes a los procesos selectivos (Bolduc & Cézilly 2012).Por otra parte, los filósofos que defienden la interpretación propensivista del fitness sostienen que los modelos de optimalidad proporcionan (al menos a veces) formas de determinar las diferencias de fitness independientes del éxito reproductivo actual (Beatty 1980, Brandon & Beatty 1984.…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

Dos usos de los modelos de optimalidad en las explicaciones por selección natural

Ginnobili

Roffé

2017

Metatheo

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

El objetivo de este trabajo consiste en analizar las relaciones entre los modelos de optimalidad y la selección natural. Defenderemos que esas relaciones pueden dividirse en dos tipos, en tanto hay dos tipos de explicaciones seleccionistas, que llamaremos “históricas” y “ahistóricas”. Las explicaciones históricas revelan como una población dada adquiere un rasgo que es adaptativo en ese ambiente e involucran muchas generaciones, variación, etc. Las explicaciones ahistóricas, explican por qué, en determinado momento, ciertos tipos de organismos tienen un mayor éxito reproductivo que otros. Mostraremos que los modelos de optimalidad pueden jugar un rol en la determinación del explanandum de las explicaciones histórica seleccionistas, esto es, que ayudan a reconocer qué rasgos son adaptativos. Por otra parte, mostramos que los modelos de optimalidad nos permiten determinar a veces la parte del explanans de las explicaciones ahistóricas (particularmente, el concepto de fitness).

show abstract

Optimality Models and the Propensity Interpretation of Fitness

Roffé

Ginnobili

2019

Acta Biotheor

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The propensity account of fitness intends to solve the classical tautologicity issue by identifying fitness with a disposition, the ability to survive and reproduce. As proponents recognized early on, this account requires operational independence from actual reproductive success to avoid circularity and vacuousness charges. They suggested that operational independence is achieved by measuring fitness values through optimality models. Our goal in this article is to develop this suggestion. We show that one plausible procedure by which these independent operationalizations could be thought to take place, and which is in accordance with what is said in the optimality literature, is unsound. We provide two independent lines of reasoning to show this. We then provide a sketch of a more adequate account of the role of optimality models in evolutionary contexts and draw some consequences.

show abstract

Optimality modelling in the real world

Cited by 6 publications

References 33 publications

Everything in moderation or moderating everything? Nutrient balancing in the context of evolution and cancer metabolism

Everything in moderation or moderating everything? Nutrient balancing in the context of evolution and cancer metabolism

Dos usos de los modelos de optimalidad en las explicaciones por selección natural

Optimality Models and the Propensity Interpretation of Fitness

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About