Lu, Qiaoying and Bourrat, Pierrick (2017) The Evolutionary Gene and the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis. [Preprint]
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Abstract
Advocates of an ‘extended evolutionary synthesis’ have claimed that standard evolutionary theory fails to accommodate epigenetic inheritance. The opponents of the extended synthesis argue that the evidence for epigenetic inheritance causing adaptive evolution in nature is insufficient. We suggest that the ambiguity surrounding the conception of the gene represents a background semantic issue in the debate. Starting from Haig’s gene-selectionist framework and Griffiths and Neumann-Held’s notion of the evolutionary gene, we define senses of ‘gene’, ‘environment’ and ‘phenotype’ in a way that makes them consistent with gene-centric evolutionary theory. We argue that the evolutionary gene, when being materialized, need not be restricted to nucleic acids but can encompass other heritable units such as epialleles. If the evolutionary gene is understood more broadly, and the notions of environment and phenotype are defined accordingly, current evolutionary theory does not require a major conceptual change in order to incorporate the mechanisms of epigenetic inheritance.
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| Item Type: | Preprint | |||||||||
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| Subjects: | Specific Sciences > Biology Specific Sciences > Biology > Evolutionary Theory Specific Sciences > Biology > Molecular Biology/Genetics General Issues > Philosophers of Science |
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| Depositing User: | Mr Pierrick Bourrat | |||||||||
| Date Deposited: | 17 Dec 2016 16:01 | |||||||||
| Last Modified: | 17 Dec 2016 16:01 | |||||||||
| Item ID: | 12708 | |||||||||
| Subjects: | Specific Sciences > Biology Specific Sciences > Biology > Evolutionary Theory Specific Sciences > Biology > Molecular Biology/Genetics General Issues > Philosophers of Science |
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| Date: | 2017 | |||||||||
| URI: | https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/12708 |
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