Genesis of Novel Behaviour
Published on 14. November 1991
Book
Hardback
243 pages
978-0-19-506893-1 (ISBN)
Description
In Darwin's time, individual development was believed to recapitulate the history of the species. This meant that each evolutionary novelty was added on at the end of individual development in the preceding species. If this were so, development would be like a motion picture revealing the sequence of a species' evolutionary history. In the 1920s, this view shifted to one stressing that early, not late, somatic changes in individual development were responsible for evolution, and many believed these changes were caused by genetic mutations and recombinations. With these views as background, this study presents a behavioural theory of evolutionary change that is not dependent on genetic mutation or genetic recombination in its initial stages. Using evidence of the large, untapped, already existing genetic-developmental potential in all species, the author proposes that developmentally wrought changes in behaviour can lead to the evolution of somatic novelties prior to genetic change. Some of these documented behavioural changes include heightened exploratory tendencies, increased resistance to stress and enhanced problem-solving skills.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
halftones, line drawings
ISBN-13
978-0-19-506893-1 (9780195068931)
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Schweitzer Classification
Content
Conceptions of development: Preformation and epigenesis; Larmarck and the idea of the evolution of species; Charles Darwin and the role of embryological development; Ernst Haeckel and the biogenetic law; St. George Mivart: First intimations of the role of individual development in evolution; Francis Galton: Nature vs. nurture and the separation of heredity and environment; August Weismann, Wilhelm Roux, Wilhelm His and Hans Driesch: An abortive attempt to understand heredity through an experimental approach to embryonic development; Karl Pearson vs. William Bateson: The foundation of the quantitative study of heredity or genetics without individual development; Walter Garstang, Gavin de Beer, Richard Goldschmidt: The concept of changes in individual development as the basis for evolution; R.A. Fisher, J.B.S. Haldane & Sewall Wright: The genetics of populations; Evolution: The modern synthesis and its failure to incorporate individual development into evolutionary theory; Extending the modern synthesis: Preliminaries to a developmental theory of the phenotype (phenogenesis); From gene to organism: The developing individual as an emergent, interactional, hierarchial system; Induction of behavioral change in individual development as prelude to evolution: The supra-genetic developmental basis of evolutionary change; Index.