Formalising evolutionary theory

Abstract

We propose a formalization of the principles of evolutionary theory as it is currently used in empirical research, in order to enlighten its explanatory resources. We deliberately adopt a minimalist methodology and refuse to include any notion that would not be entirely clear in our formulation. We discuss a few existing formulations and what we see as the touchstone of any formulation of evolutionary theory at the beginning of the twenty-first century: Lenski's experiments on Escherichia coli. We show the conceptual benefits we draw from our formalization.