The subject as cause and effect of evolution. Issue 5 (6th October 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Godfrey-Smith, Peter
• Is Part Of: Interface focus. Volume 7:Issue 5(2017)
• Publication Date: 2017-10-06
• Subjects: evolution -- plasticity -- subjectivity -- niche construction -- Cambrian; Physical sciences -- Periodicals; Life sciences -- Periodicals; 500
• DOI: 10.1098/rsfs.2017.0022
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2042-8898

Abstract

Abstract : A family of arguments often presented in opposition to mainstream neo-Darwinian views of evolution assert an 'active' role for organisms in determining the course of their evolution and other kinds of biological change. I assess several of these arguments, beginning with an early treatment by Lewontin and moving to more recent discussions. I then look at a subset of these phenomena, those in which organisms are efficacious in virtue of features and capacities related to subjectivity . In the history of the Earth from the Cambrian onwards, subjectivity has been an increasingly important causal factor.