Innateness and Genetic Information

Abstract

The idea that innateness can be understood in terms of genetic coding or genetic programming is discussed. I argue that biology does not provide any support for the view that the whole-organism features of interest to nativists in psychology and linguistics are genetically coded for. This provides some support for recent critical and deflationary treatments of the concept of innateness.

Categories

Keywords

Reprint years

Other Versions

No versions found

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 101,394

External links

  • This entry has no external links. Add one.
Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

  • Only published works are available at libraries.

My notes

Similar books and articles

Genetic Representation Explains the Cluster of Innateness‐Related Properties.Nicholas Shea - 2012 - Mind and Language 27 (4):466-493.
On the theoretical role of "genetic coding".Peter Godfrey-Smith - 2000 - Philosophy of Science 67 (1):26-44.
Innateness and Canalization.André Ariew - 1996 - Philosophy of Science 63 (5):19-27.
Should we eliminate the innate? Reply to Griffiths and Machery.Muhammad Ali Khalidi - 2009 - Philosophical Psychology 22 (4):505 – 519.
The Concept of Innateness as an Object of Empirical Enquiry.Richard Samuels - 2016 - In Wesley Buckwalter & Justin Sytsma (eds.), Blackwell Companion to Experimental Philosophy. Malden, MA: Blackwell. pp. 504–519.
New thinking, innateness and inherited representation.Nicholas Shea - 2012 - Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 367:2234-2244.
Relativizing innateness: innateness as the insensitivity of the appearance of a trait with respect to specified environmental variation.Elizabeth O’Neill - 2015 - Biology and Philosophy 30 (2):211-225.
The Resurrection of Innateness.James Maclaurin - 2002 - The Monist 85 (1):105-130.
Innateness as genetic adaptation: Lorenz redivivus (and revised).Nathan Cofnas - 2017 - Biology and Philosophy 32 (4):559-580.

Analytics

Added to PP
2010-12-22

Downloads
27 (#826,352)

6 months
27 (#122,210)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Peter Godfrey-Smith
University of Sydney

Citations of this work

Inherited representations are read in development.Nicholas Shea - 2013 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 64 (1):1-31.
Innateness.Steven Gross & Georges Rey - 2012 - In Eric Margolis, Richard Samuels & Stephen P. Stich (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Cognitive Science. Oxford University Press.
What’s transmitted? Inherited information.Nicholas Shea - 2011 - Biology and Philosophy 26 (2):183-189.
Replacement of the “genetic program” program.Ronald J. Planer - 2014 - Biology and Philosophy 29 (1):33-53.

View all 10 citations / Add more citations

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references