No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
Is symbolic inheritance similar to genetic inheritance?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 December 2007
Abstract
Jablonka & Lamb's (J&L's) book is refreshing in that it debunks the exclusively gene-centered approach used these days to explain almost anything about life and human behavior. The book is very accessible and most convincing when the authors discuss biological theories of genetic and epigenetic inheritance, but it does not shy away from the more slippery terrain of behavioral and symbolic inheritance, and specifically the origins of language. But is the analogy appropriate?
- Type
- Open Peer Commentary
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007
References
Boyd, R. & Richerson, P. J. (1985) Culture and the evolutionary process. University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Croft, W. (2000) Explaining language change: An evolutionary approach. Pearson Education.Google Scholar
Dautenhahn, K. & Nehaniv, C. L. (2002) Imitation in animals and artifacts. MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jablonka, E. & Lamb, M. J. (2005) Evolution in four dimensions: Genetic, epigenetic, behavioral, and symbolic variation in the history of life. MIT Press.Google Scholar
Steels, L. (2004) Analogies between genome and language evolution. In: Artificial life IX, ed. Pollack, J., pp. 200–206. MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Szathmáry, E. (2006) The origins of replicators and reproducers. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 361:1761–76.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed