Dear list:
Everyone should take time to read Waddington. A strong argument can be made to put Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Peirce, Strauss and Waddington all in the same class in that they contributed distinctively to the conversation regarding forms, ideas, wholeness and completeness. It is ironic that a narrative of political tension is attached to each great mind (perhaps less so with Aristotle). *For instance, Waddington, Strategy of the Genes:* “All living organisms, except possibly some of the very simplest, though even that exception is doubtful, are characterized by possessing a characteristic form or shape… Finally, organic forms have a quality, difficult to express precisely in words, but rather forms have a quality, difficult to express precisely in words, but rather definitely recognizable in practice, which is often referred to as ‘wholeness’ or ‘integration’. This is almost an aesthetic quality- a character of self-sufficiency and completeness. But it is not solely aesthetic. It is connected with the second major peculiarity of living things, their ‘directiveness’, as E. S. Russell (1945) has called it. This refers to the fact that most of the activities of a living organism are of such a kind that they tend to produce a certain characteristic end-result.” Best, Jerry Rhee On Sat, Dec 17, 2016 at 4:22 PM, Gary Richmond <gary.richm...@gmail.com> wrote: > John, List, > > Thanks for this excellent post. I've taken the liberty of forwarding it to > the biosemiotics list. > > Best, > > Gary > > > [image: Gary Richmond] > > *Gary Richmond* > *Philosophy and Critical Thinking* > *Communication Studies* > *LaGuardia College of the City University of New York* > *C 745* > *718 482-5690 <(718)%20482-5690>* > > On Sat, Dec 17, 2016 at 3:54 PM, John F Sowa <s...@bestweb.net> wrote: > >> On 12/16/2016 4:50 PM, Gary Richmond wrote: >> >>> I'd like to suggest the recent lecture by Denis Noble >>> in the British Physiological Society: >>> >>> http://www.voicesfromoxford.org/video/dance-to-the-tune-of-l >>> ife-lecture/699 >>> >> >> Thanks for the reference. That led me to some of his earlier articles. >> The one from 2012 covers many of the points in Noble's lecture and his >> recent book: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3262309/pdf/rsf >> s20110067.pdf >> >> The attached diagram, Noble12.jpg (copied from that article), summarizes >> the issues: >> >> 1. The arrows pointing up are assumed by 20th c. Neo-Darwinists: >> Genes determine the proteins, which determine the cells, which >> determine the organs, which determine the organism. >> >> 2. But some 20th c. research (starting with Conrad Waddington, who >> coined the term 'epigenetics' in the 1930s) implied that acquired >> traits can be inherited. But Waddington was largely rejected >> because his ideas were contrary to Neo-Darwinism. >> >> 3. 21st c. research shows that Waddington was right. Noble's diagram >> shows the downward arrows that have a causative effect on earlier >> stages. Noble does not deny the upward arrows, but he points out >> that the downward arrows reduce the randomness by filtering out >> most of the less promising mutations. >> >> 4. Those downward arrows have two effects: (a) they preserve the >> faithful transcription of the overwhelming majority of genes, >> and (b) they guide or facilitate the mutations that may be useful. >> >> 5. The Neo-Darwinists were partly right in saying that mutations >> are random, but they were wrong in rejecting the idea that >> inherited properties (epigenetic) could guide (or at least >> facilitate) useful mutations. >> >> 6. This argument provides some support for Lamarck's claim that >> acquired traits could be inherited. It also provides support >> for Darwin's original writings, in which he showed a high >> regard for Lamarck and agreed with some of his hypotheses. >> >> 7. Conclusion: Darwin's original 19th century views were more >> accurate than the 20th c. Neo-Darwinian dogma, which rejected >> any hint of Lamarckian tendencies. The Neo-Darwinists were >> guilty of blocking the way of inquiry. >> >> The URL of Noble's 2012 article also has links to related articles and >> reviews by Noble and others. Most of them can be freely downloaded. >> >> John >> >> >> ----------------------------- >> PEIRCE-L subscribers: Click on "Reply List" or "Reply All" to REPLY ON >> PEIRCE-L to this message. PEIRCE-L posts should go to >> peirce-L@list.iupui.edu . To UNSUBSCRIBE, send a message not to PEIRCE-L >> but to l...@list.iupui.edu with the line "UNSubscribe PEIRCE-L" in the >> BODY of the message. More at http://www.cspeirce.com/peirce >> -l/peirce-l.htm . >> >> >> >> >> >> > > > ----------------------------- > PEIRCE-L subscribers: Click on "Reply List" or "Reply All" to REPLY ON > PEIRCE-L to this message. PEIRCE-L posts should go to > peirce-L@list.iupui.edu . To UNSUBSCRIBE, send a message not to PEIRCE-L > but to l...@list.iupui.edu with the line "UNSubscribe PEIRCE-L" in the > BODY of the message. More at http://www.cspeirce.com/peirce-l/peirce-l.htm > . > > > > > >
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