2000/01/01 by Thomas E. Dickins, Qazi Rahman, Alain Charier · 1 citation
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Biology #Causation #Cognitive science #Comparative constitutional jurisprudence studies #Computer science #Conflation #Criminal Justice and Penology #Cultural and political discourse analysis #Epigenetics #Epistemology #Evolution and Genetic Dynamics #Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation #Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior #Evolutionary biology #Genetics #Geography #Inheritance (genetic algorithm) #Niche construction #Political science #Psychology #Reciprocal #Transgenerational epigenetics
paper · pdf · doi:10.1098/rspb.2012.0273
openalex publication_date 2000/01/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/04/28
In recent years, a number of researchers have advocated extending the modern synthesis in evolutionary biology. One of the core arguments made in favour of an extension comes from work on soft inheritance systems, including transgenerational epigenetic effects, cultural transmission and niche construction. In this study, we outline this claim and then take issue with it. We argue that the focus on soft inheritance has led to a conflation of proximate and ultimate causation, which has in turn obscured key questions about biological organization and calibration across the life span to maximize average lifetime inclusive fitness. We illustrate this by presenting hypotheses that we believe incorporate the core phenomena of soft inheritance and will aid in understanding them.