Epigenetics, Representation, and Society

In recent decades, advances in the life sciences have created an unprecedentedly detailed picture of heredity and the formation of the phenotype where clusters of simplistic reductionist and deterministic views and interpretations have begun to lose ground to more complex and holistic notions. The d...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Zygon
Main Author: Gadjev, Ilya (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Published: Wiley-Blackwell [2017]
In: Zygon
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Epigenetics / Inheritance / Social philosophy
RelBib Classification:AB Philosophy of religion; criticism of religion; atheism
ZA Social sciences
Further subjects:B science and society
B ‘hard’ inheritance
B Epigenetics
B Representation
B ‘soft’ inheritance
Online Access: Volltext (Verlag)
Volltext (doi)
Description
Summary:In recent decades, advances in the life sciences have created an unprecedentedly detailed picture of heredity and the formation of the phenotype where clusters of simplistic reductionist and deterministic views and interpretations have begun to lose ground to more complex and holistic notions. The developments in gene regulation and epigenetics have become a vivid emblem of the ongoing ‘softening’ of heredity. Despite this headway, the outlook and rhetoric widely popular in the twentieth century favoring the ‘gene’ in the ‘gene↔genetic plasticity↔phenotype↔environment’ tetrad have not been successfully tackled but continue to exist in parallel with a new, equally monochromatic, viewpoint championing genetic plasticity. An examination of epigenetics and its presentation in the public sphere, open to a conversation with the social disciplines and philosophy, could address this dichotomy and contribute to the discourse. This article outlines key biological aspects of epigenetics and discusses the language, presentation and wider resonance of this field of life science research.
ISSN:1467-9744
Contains:Enthalten in: Zygon
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1111/zygo.12343