The Intelligent Genome - On the Origin of the Human Mind by Mutation and Selection

Do our genes determine our behavior? Do education and environment have any influence at all? Do humans occupy a unique position in evolution? To clarify these provoking questions, the author takes the reader on an ambitious and entertaining journey through a variety of scientific disciplines. In doing so, he creates an image of human evolution that says that our entire individual knowledge is determined - to the smallest detail - by phylogeny. " ... before shocked humanists discard such radical theses as mere nonsense, they should not completely close their minds to the explanations of a biologist who says that we still know very little about the genetic determination of human behavior and that the invariance of many forms of behavior present in all cultures nourish the suspicion that the determining role of genes is probably far more comprehensive than we have ever dreamed."
Wolfgang Wieser, translated from his review in "Merkur" (Sept./Oct. 1999)

List of contents

Nature Explains Nurture.- 1 The Myth of a Wonder of Nature.- 2 Evolutionary Epistemology or the Difficulties of Getting Started.- 3 To Be or Not to Be.- 4 Chance as Necessity.- 5 The Indivisible Individual.- 6 L=C.- 7 The Central Dogma Reformulated.- 8 Learning: Appearances are Deceptive.- 9 Edelman's Errors.- 10 On the Heritability of Jazzophilia.- 11 A Superfluous Law of Evolution.- 12 The "Wonder" of Language.- 13 Intelligent Sex: A Cognitivist View of Genetic Exchange Processes.- 14 How to Explain Consciousness.- 15 The True Nature of Scientific Revolutions.- 16 "Evolution Has Us in Its Grip".- 17 The Survival of the Most Intelligent.- 18 The Cultural Struggle of Genes.- 19 Requiem for a Wonder of Nature.- Literature.- Acknowledgement of sources.

About the author

Adolf Heschl (geb. 31. 01. 1959, Graz)§1979 - 1985: Studium der Biologie (Zoologie/Botanik) an der Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz§1985 - 1987:Post-doc-Stipendium am Internationalen Zentrum für genetische Epistemologie (C.I.E.G. - Jean Piaget) der Universität Genf §1988: Mitarbeit im Altenberger Kreis für Evolutionäre Erkenntnistheorie (Lorenz, Riedl, Oeser) §1989 -1993:Universitätsassistent am Institut für Zoologie der Universität Wien(Abt. Ethologie)§1994 -2003:Forschungsassistent und Geschäftsführer am Konrad Lorenz Institut (KLI) für Evolutions- und Kognitionsforschung, Altenberg§seit 2004:Lektor am Zoologischen Institut der Universität Graz

Summary

Do our genes determine our behavior? Do education and environment have any influence at all? Do humans occupy a unique position in evolution? To clarify these provoking questions, the author takes the reader on an ambitious and entertaining journey through a variety of scientific disciplines. In doing so, he creates an image of human evolution that says that our entire individual knowledge is determined - to the smallest detail - by phylogeny. " ... before shocked humanists discard such radical theses as mere nonsense, they should not completely close their minds to the explanations of a biologist who says that we still know very little about the genetic determination of human behavior and that the invariance of many forms of behavior present in all cultures nourish the suspicion that the determining role of genes is probably far more comprehensive than we have ever dreamed."
Wolfgang Wieser, translated from his review in "Merkur" (Sept./Oct. 1999)

Additional text

From the reviews:
"All knowledge of the individual is located in the genome, argues Heschl. With such a radicality he goes much further than many other researchers like Richard Dawkins, the advocate of the selfish gene."
Frankfurter Allgemeine, translated from issue June 17, 1998.

"We cannot exclude the possibility that Heschl is simply right."
Josef H. Reichholf, translated from "Psychologie heute" (July 1999)

"I basically agree with Heschl's theses."
Manfred Eigen, translated from a personal letter to the author (Nov. 1999)

"Written by a trained ethologist and genetic epistemologist, and translated from the 1998 German original, The Intelligent Genome highlights how little we know about the genetic determination of human behaviour. … Although a very intense text, readers of this book may be drawn from various disciplines … . A rich source of bibliography and widely drawn quotes from famous philosophers and scientists, the book can also be a good research resource and reference book for any library collection." (Harjeet Khanna, Today’s Life Science, Vol. 14 (5), 2002)
"Burying the myth of the human miracle, the author Adolf Heschl goes beyond any known theories. … In a clear-cut scientific approach, Heschl claims that intelligence, although individually shaped throughout life, already pre-exists in the genome. … The author analyses theories of scientists such as Darwin, Lamarck or Weisman, at the same time taking a highly critical look at his own point of view. Following the road of mankind, the reader is taken on both an ambitious and entertaining journey." (Science in Africa, March, 2002)

Report

From the reviews:
"All knowledge of the individual is located in the genome, argues Heschl. With such a radicality he goes much further than many other researchers like Richard Dawkins, the advocate of the selfish gene."
Frankfurter Allgemeine, translated from issue June 17, 1998.

"We cannot exclude the possibility that Heschl is simply right."
Josef H. Reichholf, translated from "Psychologie heute" (July 1999)

"I basically agree with Heschl's theses."
Manfred Eigen, translated from a personal letter to the author (Nov. 1999)

"Written by a trained ethologist and genetic epistemologist, and translated from the 1998 German original, The Intelligent Genome highlights how little we know about the genetic determination of human behaviour. ... Although a very intense text, readers of this book may be drawn from various disciplines ... . A rich source of bibliography and widely drawn quotes from famous philosophers and scientists, the book can also be a good research resource and reference book for any library collection." (Harjeet Khanna, Today's Life Science, Vol. 14 (5), 2002)
"Burying the myth of the human miracle, the author Adolf Heschl goes beyond any known theories. ... In a clear-cut scientific approach, Heschl claims that intelligence, although individually shaped throughout life, already pre-exists in the genome. ... The author analyses theories of scientists such as Darwin, Lamarck or Weisman, at the same time taking a highly critical look at his own point of view. Following the road of mankind, the reader is taken on both an ambitious and entertaining journey." (Science in Africa, March, 2002)

Product details

• Authors: Adolf Heschl, H. Loserl
• Assisted by: H. Loserl (Drawings)
• Publisher: Springer, Berlin
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 11.10.2010
• EAN: 9783642086489
• ISBN: 978-3-642-08648-9
• No. of pages: 355
• Illustrations: VII, 355 p.
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Biology > Zoology; Anthropologie, Philosophie, C, Evolution, Genetik, Medizin, Anthropology, Philosophy, Knowledge, Cognition, Epistemology, Human Genetics, Biomedical and Life Sciences, Medical Genetics, Zoology, Philosophy, general, phylogeny, genes, the origin