Complexity, Genetic Causation, and Hereditarianism

4区生物学 Q2 Medicine

Human Biology Pub Date : 2018-11-01 DOI:10.13110/humanbiology.90.4.05

C. Roseman

引用次数: 2

Abstract

abstract Hereditarians have claimed that recent advances in psychological and psychiatric genetics support their contention that socially important aspects of behavior and cognition in individuals and groups are largely insensitive to environmental context. This has been countered by anti-hereditarians who (correctly) claim that the conclusion of genetic ineluctability is false. Anti-hereditarians, however, sometimes use problematic arguments based on complexity and the ignorance that comes with complexity and a demand for mechanistic, as opposed to variational, explanations for the ways in which genes affect phenotype. I argue here, as a committed anti-hereditarian, that the complexity gambit and the demand for mechanisms open anti-hereditarian arguments to counterattack from hereditarians. Refocusing the argument onto issues about when heritability, genotypic scores, and genome-wide association studies may be appropriately applied and reemphasizing the point that context matters are stronger measures to counter hereditarian claims.

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复杂性、遗传因果和遗传主义

遗传学家声称，心理和精神遗传学的最新进展支持了他们的论点，即个人和群体的行为和认知的社会重要方面在很大程度上对环境背景不敏感。这遭到了反遗传论者的反驳，他们(正确地)声称基因不可避免性的结论是错误的。然而，反遗传主义者有时会使用一些有问题的论点，这些论点基于复杂性和随之而来的无知，以及对基因影响表型方式的机械解释的需求，而不是变异解释。作为一名坚定的反遗传主义者，我在这里认为，复杂性的策略和对机制的需求使反遗传主义者的论点受到了遗传主义者的反击。重新将争论的焦点集中在何时可以适当地应用遗传性、基因型得分和全基因组关联研究的问题上，并再次强调上下文因素是反对遗传主义主张的更强有力的措施。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Human Biology 生物-生物学

CiteScore

1.90

自引率

0.00%

发文量

审稿时长

>12 weeks

期刊介绍： Human Biology publishes original scientific articles, brief communications, letters to the editor, and review articles on the general topic of biological anthropology. Our main focus is understanding human biological variation and human evolution through a broad range of approaches. We encourage investigators to submit any study on human biological diversity presented from an evolutionary or adaptive perspective. Priority will be given to interdisciplinary studies that seek to better explain the interaction between cultural processes and biological processes in our evolution. Methodological papers are also encouraged. Any computational approach intended to summarize cultural variation is encouraged. Studies that are essentially descriptive or concern only a limited geographic area are acceptable only when they have a wider relevance to understanding human biological variation. Manuscripts may cover any of the following disciplines, once the anthropological focus is apparent: human population genetics, evolutionary and genetic demography, quantitative genetics, evolutionary biology, ancient DNA studies, biological diversity interpreted in terms of adaptation (biometry, physical anthropology), and interdisciplinary research linking biological and cultural diversity (inferred from linguistic variability, ethnological diversity, archaeological evidence, etc.).