Sex and Death
Chapter 5: The developmental
systems alternative
5.1 Developmental Systems Theory –no privileged
class of replicators
Step 1: not only genes are inherited
Step 2: genes are not determining traits
Step 3: not only genes contain “information”
Step 4: no exclusive role for genes in development
Step 5: genes are not special molecules
Sex and Death
Chapter 5: The developmental
systems alternative
5.2 epigenic inheritance and beyond:
organism inherit
- behavioral repertoires
- epigenic inheritance systems
- extracellular structures
not only gens
Sex and Death
Chapter 5: The developmental
systems alternative
5.3 the interactionist consensus:
all traits have both
- genetic and
- nongenetic causes,
so genes cannot be separated as playing a
determining role.
Sex and Death
Chapter 5: The developmental
systems alternative
Genes are “context-sensitive difference
makers”
They produce their effects by adding a physical
product to a complex network of causes
consisting
- of other genes and their immediate products
- the other constitutes of the initial cell
- all the inputs of materials and energy to the
developing organism.
Sex and Death
Chapter 5: The developmental
systems alternative
5.4 information in development:
The causal notion of information:
Information flows over a channel connecting two
systems:
- The receiver: the system that contains the information
- The sender: the system that the information is about.
When we can infer the state of the sender from the
state of the receiver, then the systems are
systematically causally related.
However, in order to make sense of gene”s
malfunctioning, an intentional notion of information is
necessary.
Sex and Death
Chapter 5: The developmental
systems alternative
5.4 information in development:
The intentional notion of information:
The relation between gene and organism is like the one
between thought and thing.
Susan Oyama: The whole notion of developmental
information should be abandoned
the development in the embryo relies on cues in the
developmental environment. There is no
developmental plan within the embryo.
Sex and Death
Chapter 5: The developmental
systems alternative
- In any sense in which genes carry
information, nongenetic developmental
factors carry developmental information too.
Sex and Death
Chapter 5: The developmental
systems alternative