Post by Tamrin on Oct 29, 2010 19:06:05 GMT 10
[url=Lamarckism
]Lamarckism
[/url][/b][/size]]Lamarckism
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Lamarckism (or Lamarckian inheritance) is the idea that an organism can pass on characteristics that it acquired during its lifetime to its offspring (also known as heritability of acquired characteristics or soft inheritance). It is named after the French biologist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744–1829), who incorporated the action of soft inheritance into his evolutionary theories. He is often incorrectly cited as the founder of soft inheritance, which proposes that individual efforts during the lifetime of the organisms were the main mechanism driving species to adaptation, as they supposedly would acquire adaptive changes and pass them on to offspring.
After publication of Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection, the importance of individual efforts in the generation of adaptation was considerably diminished. Later, Mendelian genetics supplanted the notion of inheritance of acquired traits, eventually leading to the development of the modern evolutionary synthesis, and the general abandonment of the Lamarckian theory of evolution in biology. In a wider context, soft inheritance is of use when examining the evolution of cultures and ideas, and is related to the theory of Memetics.
After publication of Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection, the importance of individual efforts in the generation of adaptation was considerably diminished. Later, Mendelian genetics supplanted the notion of inheritance of acquired traits, eventually leading to the development of the modern evolutionary synthesis, and the general abandonment of the Lamarckian theory of evolution in biology. In a wider context, soft inheritance is of use when examining the evolution of cultures and ideas, and is related to the theory of Memetics.
Lamarckism and societal change
Jean Molino (2000) has proposed that Lamarckian evolution may be accurately applied to cultural evolution. This was also previously suggested by Peter Medawar (1959) and Conrad Waddington (1961). K. N. Laland and colleagues have recently suggested that human culture can be looked upon as an ecological niche like phenomena, where the effects of cultural niche construction are transmissible from one generation to the next. One interpretation of the Meme theory is that memes are both Darwinian and Lamarckian in nature, as in addition to being subject to selection pressures based on their ability to differentially influence Human minds, memes can be modified and the effects of that modification passed on. Richard Dawkins notes (in Blackmore 2000: The Meme machine, page 13), that Memes can be copied in a Lamarckian way (copying of the product) or in a Weismann-type evolutionary way (copying of the instruction) which is much more resistant against changes.
Jean Molino (2000) has proposed that Lamarckian evolution may be accurately applied to cultural evolution. This was also previously suggested by Peter Medawar (1959) and Conrad Waddington (1961). K. N. Laland and colleagues have recently suggested that human culture can be looked upon as an ecological niche like phenomena, where the effects of cultural niche construction are transmissible from one generation to the next. One interpretation of the Meme theory is that memes are both Darwinian and Lamarckian in nature, as in addition to being subject to selection pressures based on their ability to differentially influence Human minds, memes can be modified and the effects of that modification passed on. Richard Dawkins notes (in Blackmore 2000: The Meme machine, page 13), that Memes can be copied in a Lamarckian way (copying of the product) or in a Weismann-type evolutionary way (copying of the instruction) which is much more resistant against changes.