Zum Hauptinhalt springen Zur Suche springen Zur Hauptnavigation springen
Beschreibung
The Ontogeny of Information is a critical intervention into the ongoing and perpetually troubling nature-nurture debates surrounding human development. Originally published in 1985, this was a foundational text in what is now the substantial field of developmental systems theory. In this revised edition Susan Oyama argues compellingly that nature and nurture are not alternative influences on human development but, rather, developmental products and the developmental processes that produce them.
Information, says Oyama, is thought to reside in molecules, cells, tissues, and the environment. When something wondrous occurs in the world, we tend to question whether the information guiding the transformation was pre-encoded in the organism or installed through experience or instruction. Oyama looks beyond this either-or question to focus on the history of such developments. She shows that what developmental “information” does depends on what is already in place and what alternatives are available. She terms this process “constructive interactionism,” whereby each combination of genes and environmental influences simultaneously interacts to produce a unique result. Ontogeny, then, is the result of dynamic and complex interactions in multileveled developmental systems.
The Ontogeny of Information challenges specialists in the fields of developmental biology, philosophy of biology, psychology, and sociology, and even nonspecialists, to reexamine the existing nature-nurture dichotomy as it relates to the history and formation of organisms.
The Ontogeny of Information is a critical intervention into the ongoing and perpetually troubling nature-nurture debates surrounding human development. Originally published in 1985, this was a foundational text in what is now the substantial field of developmental systems theory. In this revised edition Susan Oyama argues compellingly that nature and nurture are not alternative influences on human development but, rather, developmental products and the developmental processes that produce them.
Information, says Oyama, is thought to reside in molecules, cells, tissues, and the environment. When something wondrous occurs in the world, we tend to question whether the information guiding the transformation was pre-encoded in the organism or installed through experience or instruction. Oyama looks beyond this either-or question to focus on the history of such developments. She shows that what developmental “information” does depends on what is already in place and what alternatives are available. She terms this process “constructive interactionism,” whereby each combination of genes and environmental influences simultaneously interacts to produce a unique result. Ontogeny, then, is the result of dynamic and complex interactions in multileveled developmental systems.
The Ontogeny of Information challenges specialists in the fields of developmental biology, philosophy of biology, psychology, and sociology, and even nonspecialists, to reexamine the existing nature-nurture dichotomy as it relates to the history and formation of organisms.
Über den Autor
Susan Oyama
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Foreword / Richard Lewontin

Preface to Second Edition

Preface

Introduction

The Origin and Transmission of Form: The Gene as the Vehicle of Constancy
>
The Problem of Change
>
Variability and Ontogenetic Differentiation
>
Variations on a Theme: Cognitive Metaphors and the Homunculoid Gene
>
The Ghosts in the Ghost-in-the-Machine Machine
>
The Ontogeny of Information

Reprise
>
Prospects
>
Afterword to Second Edition
>
Notes
>
References
>
Index of Names
>
Index of Subject
Details
Erscheinungsjahr: 2000
Fachbereich: Grundlagen
Genre: Biologie, Importe
Rubrik: Naturwissenschaften & Technik
Medium: Taschenbuch
Inhalt: Einband - flex.(Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9780822324669
ISBN-10: 0822324660
Sprache: Englisch
Einband: Kartoniert / Broschiert
Autor: Oyama, Susan
Auflage: 2nd Revised edition
Hersteller: Duke University Press
Verantwortliche Person für die EU: Libri GmbH, Europaallee 1, D-36244 Bad Hersfeld, gpsr@libri.de
Maße: 222 x 150 x 24 mm
Von/Mit: Susan Oyama
Erscheinungsdatum: 16.03.2000
Gewicht: 0,49 kg
Artikel-ID: 121030443