Making sense of Mendelian genes. (2nd July 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Radick, Gregory
• Is Part Of: Interdisciplinary science reviews. Volume 45:Number 3(2020)
• Page Start: 299
• Page End: 314
• Publication Date: 2020-07-02
• Subjects: Mendelism -- genetic determinism -- Evelyn Fox Keller -- T. H. Morgan -- genetics teaching -- heuristics -- counterfactual history -- nature-nurture relationship; Science -- Periodicals; Technology -- Periodicals; 505
• DOI: 10.1080/03080188.2020.1794387
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0308-0188

Abstract

ABSTRACT: An enduring legacy from the heyday of Mendelian genetics is talk of 'genes for'. Such talk suggests straightforwardly that genes make characters. But for over a century, thoughtful biologists have insisted such an understanding is mistaken. For them, a gene is a chromosomal difference that, when internal and external environments are otherwise equal, makes a phenotypic difference; 'genes for' talk is but shorthand for this more complex understanding. This paper examines the remarkable durability of the disowned, deterministic character-making understanding, placing particular emphasis on the role of the traditional, start-with-Mendel curriculum in investing that understanding with a heuristic power which later teaching may never fully displace. The paper also reports on recent experimental work exploring the potential of a reordered curriculum for teaching genetics without bolstering genetic determinism.