Disentangling life: Darwin, selectionism, and the postgenomic return of the environment. (April 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Meloni, Maurizio
• Is Part Of: Studies in history and philosophy of science. Volume 62(2017)
• Page Start: 10
• Page End: 19
• Publication Date: 2017-04
• Subjects: Environment- Darwin -- James- Weismann -- Epigenetics -- Postgenomics; Biology -- Periodicals; Natural history -- Periodicals; Biology -- Philosophy -- Periodicals; Medicine -- History -- Periodicals; Medicine -- Philosophy -- Periodicals; Bioethics -- Periodicals; Biologie -- Histoire -- Périodiques; Biologie -- Philosophie -- Périodiques; Sciences de la santé -- Histoire -- Périodiques; Sciences de la santé -- Philosophie -- Périodiques; Médecine -- Histoire -- Périodiques; Médecine -- Philosophie -- Périodiques; 570.1
• DOI: 10.1016/j.shpsc.2017.02.002
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1369-8486

Abstract

Abstract: In this paper, I analyze the disruptive impact of Darwinian selectionism for the century-long tradition in which the environment had a direct causative role in shaping an organism's traits. In the case of humans, the surrounding environment often determined not only the physical, but also the mental and moral features of individuals and whole populations. With its apparatus of indirect effects, random variations, and a much less harmonious view of nature and adaptation, Darwinian selectionism severed the deep imbrication of organism and milieu posited by these traditional environmentalist models. This move had radical implications well beyond strictly biological debates. In my essay, I discuss the problematization of the moral idiom of environmentalism by William James and August Weismann who adopted a selectionist view of the development of mental faculties. These debates show the complex moral discourse associated with the environmentalist-selectionist dilemma. They also well illustrate how the moral reverberations of selectionism went well beyond the stereotyped associations with biological fatalism or passivity of the organism. Rereading them today may be helpful as a genealogical guide to the complex ethical quandaries unfolding in the current postgenomic scenario in which a revival of new environmentalist themes is taking place. Highlights: The impact of Darwin's selectionism on the history of environmental determinism. The moral reverberations of selectionism beyond the stereotyped associations with biological fatalism or passivity. The challenges to selectionism in the present postgenomic moment.