Abstract

This paper presents the chapter on the history of the inheritance of acquired charactersAcquired character that Jean Gayon published in 2006 in a book entitled Lamarck, Philosophe de la nature. Gayon’s detailed analysis of this notion clarifies the oft-misunderstood role of the French naturalist Jean-Baptiste LamarckLamarck, Jean-Baptiste in its elaboration and demonstrates how several authors contributed to it during the first half of the nineteenth century. Beyond the specific case of the inheritance of acquired charactersAcquired character, Gayon's article is an important contribution to the history of heredity in general. Above all, it confirms Gayon’s strong interest for the study of the history of concepts, which is probably one of the most important aspects of his oeuvre.