Abstract
Natural, artificial, and sexual selection played different roles in Darwin’s theoretical system and his arguments. Natural selection explained adaptation without recourse to teleology. Artificial selection provided a plausibility argument for selection in general. Sexual selection provided a critical test of selection and showed that it may lead to maladaptation. Sexual selection in evolutionary theory resembles rent-seeking in economic theory.
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Acknowledgments
Many thanks to Janet Landa for her editorial skill and help with the rent-seeking literature, and to Deby Cassill for her critique of the manuscript.
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Ghiselin, M.T. What is sexual selection? A rent-seeking approach. J Bioecon 18, 153–158 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10818-016-9223-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10818-016-9223-x