Unit of selection and Confirmation of Evolutionary Theory" provides a basic "philosophical" introduction to the debate. Below, cases of selection at the genic, cellular, individual and group level from within the multi-level selection perspective are presented and discussed. George C. Williams in his influential book "Adaptation and Natural Selection" was one of the first to present a gene-centered view of evolution with the gene as the unit of selection, arguing that a unit of selection should exhibit a high degree of permanence. Richard Dawkins has written several books popularizing and expanding the idea. According to Dawkins, genes cause phenotypes and a gene is
Selfish genetic element successful selfish genetic elements. The discovery of transposable elements led to her being awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology in 1983. The empirical study of selfish genetic elements benefited greatly from the emergence of the so-called gene-centred view of evolution in the nineteen sixties and seventies. In contrast with Darwin's original formulation of the theory of evolution by natural selection that focused on individual organisms, the gene's-eye view takes the gene to be the central unit of selection in evolution. It conceives evolution by natural selection as a process involving two separate entities: replicators (entities that produce faithful