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
Beyond Natural Selection Beyond Natural Selection Beyond Natural Selection is a 1991 book by Robert G. Wesson, published by MIT Press. Wesson argues for the case of pluralism in biology. He suggests alternative mechanisms of evolution rather than natural selection. Wesson argues that reductionism is inadequate and looks for chaos theory as an example of a different approach that is needed to explain evolution. The book provides unsolved problems that Wesson believed natural selection could not account for. The paleontologist Joseph G. Carter in a critical review for the "American Scientist" wrote the book "includes innumerable oversimplifications and misrepresentations of both evolutionary theory