The return of the replicator: What is philosophically significant in a general account of replication and selection?

The aim of this paper is to outline a typology of selection processes, and show that different sub-categories have different explanatory power. The ba sis of this typology of selection processes is argued to be the difference of replication processes involved in them. In order to show this, I argue t hat: 1. Replication is necessary for selection and 2. Different types of re plication lead to different types of selection. Finally, it is argued that this typology is philosophically significant, since it contrasts cases of s election (on the basis of the replication processes involved in them) where by selection causes adaptation - and, therefore, can be used in explanation s of the (real or apparent) teleology of Nature - and cases in which select ion lacks such explanatory power.