Development and Evolution Book

From: wilkins (wilkins@wehi.EDU.AU)
Date: Thu Mar 15 2001 - 23:40:59 GMT

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    This book is highly relevant to the memetics topic. It includes
    discussions by Lewontin and others on niche construction and the
    nature-nurture distinction, The blurb below comes from the evolutionary
    psychology list:

    ===

    Message: 3
       Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2001 07:20:29 -0000
       From: "Ian Pitchford" <ian.pitchford@scientist.com>
    Subject: Developmental Systems and Evolution

    Cycles of Contingency: Developmental Systems and Evolution (Life and Mind:
    Philosophical Issues in Biology and Psychology)
    by Susan Oyama (Editor), Paul E. Griffiths (Editor), Russell D. Gray (Editor)
    Hardcover - 484 pages (February 19, 2001)
    MIT Press; ISBN: 0262150530
    AMAZON - US
    http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0262150530/darwinanddarwini/
    AMAZON - UK
    http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0262150530/humannaturecom/

    Book Description

    Many books on evolution neglect the complex dynamics of ontogeny (development)
    necessary to produce the mature creature. They either ignore it or
    reduce it to
    the transmission of genetic information. This contributes to unproductive
    debates on "nature versus nurture." Developmental systems theory (DST)
    offers a
    new conceptual framework with which to resolve such debates. DST views ontogeny
    as contingent cycles of interaction among a varied set of developmental
    resources, no one of which controls the process. These factors include DNA,
    cellular and organismic structure, and social and ecological
    interactions. DST
    has excited interest from a wide range of researchers, from molecular
    biologists to anthropologists, because of its ability to integrate evolutionary
    theory and other disciplines without falling into traditional oppositions.

    The book provides historical background to DST, recent theoretical
    findings on
    the mechanisms of heredity, applications of the DST framework to behavioral
    development, implications of DST for the philosophy of biology, and critical
    reactions to DST.

    Contributors Patrick Bateson, David J. Depew, Marcus W. Feldman, Peter
    Godfrey-Smith, Deborah M. Gordon, Gilbert Gottlieb, Russell D. Gray,
    Paul E.
    Griffiths, Tim Ingold, Eva Jablonka, Timothy D. Johnston, Evelyn Fox Keller,
    Peter Klopfer, Kevin N. Laland, Daniel S. Lehrman, Richard C. Lewontin, Lenny
    Moss, Eva Neumann-Held, H. Frederick Nijhout, F. John Odling-Smee, Susan Oyama,
    Kim Sterelny, Peter Taylor, Cor van der Weele, Bruce H. Weber, William C.
    Wimsatt.

    About the Authors

    Susan Oyama is Professor of Psychology, Emerita, at John Jay College, and
    Professor of Psychology at the CUNY Graduate Center, New York City. Paul E.
    Griffiths is Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at the University
    of Pittsburgh. Russell D. Gray is Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the
    University of Auckland.

    ===

    -- 
    John Wilkins, Head, Graphic Production, The Walter and Eliza Hall 
    Institute of Medical Research, Melbourne, Australia
    Homo homini aut deus aut lupus - Erasmus of Rotterdam
    <http://www.users.bigpond.com/thewilkins/darwiniana.html>
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    =============================================================== This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing) see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit



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