E-Book Overview
In 1809--the year of Charles Darwin's birth--Jean-Baptiste Lamarck published Philosophie zoologique, the first comprehensive and systematic theory of biological evolution. The Lamarckian approach emphasizes the generation of developmental variations; Darwinism stresses selection. Lamarck's ideas were eventually eclipsed by Darwinian concepts, especially after the emergence of the Modern Synthesis in the twentieth century. The different approaches--which can be seen as complementary rather than mutually exclusive--have important implications for the kinds of questions biologists ask and for the type of research they conduct. Lamarckism has been evolving--or, in Lamarckian terminology, transforming--since Philosophie zoologique's description of biological processes mediated by "subtle fluids." Essays in this book focus on new developments in biology that make Lamarck's ideas relevant not only to modern empirical and theoretical research but also to problems in the philosophy of biology. Contributors discuss the historical transformations of Lamarckism from the 1820s to the 1940s, and the different understandings of Lamarck and Lamarckism; the Modern Synthesis and its emphasis on Mendelian genetics; theoretical and experimental research on such "Lamarckian" topics as plasticity, soft (epigenetic) inheritance, and individuality; and the importance of a developmental approach to evolution in the philosophy of biology. The book shows the advantages of a "Lamarckian" perspective on evolution. Indeed, the development-oriented approach it presents is becoming central to current evolutionary studies--as can be seen in the burgeoning field of Evo-Devo. Transformations of Lamarckism makes a unique contribution to this research.
E-Book Content
Transformations of Lamarckism
Vienna Series in Theoretical Biology Gerd B. Müller, Günter P. Wagner, and Werner Callebaut, editors
The Evolution of Cognition, edited by Cecilia Heyes and Ludwig Huber, 2000 Origination of Organismal Form: Beyond the Gene in Development and Evolutionary Biology, edited by Gerd B. Müller and Stuart A. Newman, 2003 Environment, Development, and Evolution: Toward a Synthesis, edited by Brian K. Hall, Roy D. Pearson, and Gerd B. Müller, 2004 Evolution of Communication Systems: A Comparative Approach, edited by D. Kimbrough Oller and Ulrike Griebel, 2004 Modularity: Understanding the Development and Evolution of Natural Complex Systems, edited by Werner Callebaut and Diego Rasskin-Gutman, 2005 Compositional Evolution: The Impact of Sex, Symbiosis, and Modularity on the Gradualist Framework of Evolution, by Richard A. Watson, 2006 Biological Emergences: Evolution by Natural Experiment, by Robert G. B. Reid, 2007 Modeling Biology: Structure, Behaviors, Evolution, edited by Manfred D. Laubichler and Gerd B. Müller, 2007 Evolution of Communicative Flexibility: Complexity, Creativity, and Adaptability in Human and Animal Communication, edited by Kimbrough D. Oller and Ulrike Griebel, 2008 Functions in Biological and Artificial Worlds: Comparative Philosophical Perspectives, edited by Ulrich Krohs and Peter Kroes, 2009 Cognitive Biology: Evolutionary and Developmental Perspectives on Mind, Brain, and Behavior, edited by Luca Tommasi, Mary A. Peterson, and Lynn Nadel, 2009 Innovation in Cultural Systems: Contributions from Evolutionary Anthropology, edited by Michael J. O’Brien and Stephen J. Shennan, 2010 The Major Transitions in Evolution Revisited, edited by Brett Calcott and Kim Sterelny, 2011 Transformations of Lamarckism: From Subtle Fluids to Molecular Biology, edited by Snait B. Gissis, and Eva Jablonka, 2011
Transformations of Lamarckism From Subtle Fluids to Molecular Biology
edited by Snait B. Gissis and Eva Jablonka with illustrations by Anna Zeligowski
The MIT Press Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England
© 2011 Massa