- S&D Chapter 11: “Adaptation, Ecology, and the Environment” **
- Lewontin, The Triple Helix
Brian | Graham commenting
We switch gears next time to tackle the interconnections between gene, environment, and organism. Richard Lewontin has been an influential critic of genetic determinism and traditional views about the relationship between organisms and the environment. This book weaves together several of his criticisms into a fascinating, holistic (but not obscurely so) view of biology.
Rather than attempt to summarize the structure of the discussion, I shall leave you to enjoy Lewontin, who is a wonderfully clear writer. My goal for the our discussion, however, will be to try to clarify and evaluate the specifics of Lewontin's proposals, particularly about the relationship between organisms and their environments, but also between genes and organisms. As you'll see, much of the book will also be relevant to our discussion in meeting 11 about reductionism.
Study Questions
- Lewontin contends that discussion of development is fraught with bad metaphors. What specifically are his main concerns?
- What does the Clausen, Keck, and Heisey experiment show?
- Why would Lewontin dispute the claim that knowing an organism’s genome would allow us to specify all of its physical properties?
- According to Lewontin, how should we understand locutions like 'Gene X is for green eyes'?
- What is the difference between "forward" and "backward" modes of adaptive explanations?
- How does Lewontin understand the environment?
- What is the Red Queen hypothesis?
- Why does Lewontin think that "'The environment' does not exist to be saved" (68)?
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