Evolution in Four Dimensions: Genetic, Epigenetic, Behavioral, and Symbolic Variation in the History of Life (Life And Mind: Philosophical Issues in Biology And Philosophy Series)

Jablonka, Eva; Lamb, Marion J.; Zeligowski, Anna

ISBN 10: 0262600692 / ISBN 13: 9780262600699

Published by A Bradford Book, MIT Press, Cambridge MA, 2006

About this Item

Trade Paperback. Illustrated glossy wrappers. Glued binding. x + 462 pages, diagrams and line drawings, end notes, bibliography, index. 1st paperback edition, 4th printing. Life and Mind: Philosophical Issues in Biology and Psychology. CONDITION: FINE, binding square and tight, pages crisp and unmarked; faint shelf wear and lightly bumped corners, else AS NEW. >Guaranteed secure packaging, free tracking, and no-hassle return policy.

Seller Inventory # 003181

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Evolution in Four Dimensions: Genetic, Epigenetic, Behavioral, and Symbolic Variation in the History of Life (Life And Mind: Philosophical Issues in Biology And Philosophy Series)
• Publisher: A Bradford Book, MIT Press, Cambridge MA
• Publication Date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0262600692
• ISBN 13: 9780262600699
• Binding: Soft cover
• Illustrator: Zeligowski, Anna
• Edition: First Paperback Edition
• Printing: 4th Printing
• Condition: Fine
• Seller catalogs:
  • Textbooks & Reference
  • Science, Technology & Engineering

About this title

Synopsis

Ideas about heredity and evolution are undergoing a revolutionary change. New findings in molecular biology challenge the gene-centered version of Darwinian theory according to which adaptation occurs only through natural selection of chance DNA variations. In Evolution in Four Dimensions, Eva Jablonka and Marion Lamb argue that there is more to heredity than genes. They trace four "dimensions" in evolution -- four inheritance systems that play a role in evolution: genetic, epigenetic (or non-DNA cellular transmission of traits), behavioral, and symbolic (transmission through language and other forms of symbolic communication). These systems, they argue, can all provide variations on which natural selection can act. Evolution in Four Dimensions offers a richer, more complex view of evolution than the gene-based, one-dimensional view held by many today. The new synthesis advanced by Jablonka and Lamb makes clear that induced and acquired changes also play a role in evolution. After discussing each of the four inheritance systems in detail, Jablonka and Lamb "put Humpty Dumpty together again" by showing how all of these systems interact. They consider how each may have originated and guided evolutionary history and they discuss the social and philosophical implications of the four-dimensional view of evolution. Each chapter ends with a dialogue in which the authors engage the contrarieties of the fictional (and skeptical) "I.M.," or Ifcha Mistabra -- Aramaic for "the opposite conjecture" -- refining their arguments against I.M.'s vigorous counterarguments. The lucid and accessible text is accompanied by artist-physician Anna Zeligowski's lively drawings, which humorously and effectively illustrate the authors' points.

About the Author

Marion J. Lamb was Senior Lecturer at Birkbeck College, University of London, before her retirement.