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Eva Jablonka
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Evolution in Four Dimensions: Genetic, Epigenetic, Behavioral, And Symbolic Variation in the History of Life (Life And Mind: Philosophical Issues in Biology And Philosophy Series) Paperback – Unabridged, January 1, 2006

by Eva Jablonka (Author), Marion J. Lamb (Author), Anna Zeligowski (Illustrator)
4.4 out of 5 stars 106 ratings

Ideas about heredity and evolution are undergoing a revolutionary change. New findings in molecular biology challenge the gene-centered version of Darwinian theory according to which adaptation occurs only through natural selection of chance DNA variations. In Evolution in Four Dimensions, Eva Jablonka and Marion Lamb argue that there is more to heredity than genes. They trace four "dimensions" in evolution -- four inheritance systems that play a role in evolution: genetic, epigenetic (or non-DNA cellular transmission of traits), behavioral, and symbolic (transmission through language and other forms of symbolic communication). These systems, they argue, can all provide variations on which natural selection can act. Evolution in Four Dimensions offers a richer, more complex view of evolution than the gene-based, one-dimensional view held by many today. The new synthesis advanced by Jablonka and Lamb makes clear that induced and acquired changes also play a role in evolution. After discussing each of the four inheritance systems in detail, Jablonka and Lamb "put Humpty Dumpty together again" by showing how all of these systems interact. They consider how each may have originated and guided evolutionary history and they discuss the social and philosophical implications of the four-dimensional view of evolution. Each chapter ends with a dialogue in which the authors engage the contrarieties of the fictional (and skeptical) "I.M.," or Ifcha Mistabra -- Aramaic for "the opposite conjecture" -- refining their arguments against I.M.'s vigorous counterarguments. The lucid and accessible text is accompanied by artist-physician Anna Zeligowski's lively drawings, which humorously and effectively illustrate the authors' points.

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  1. Part of series
    Life and Mind: Philosophical Issues in Biology and Psychology
  2. Print length
    462 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Bradford Books
  5. Publication date
    January 1, 2006
  6. Dimensions
    5.95 x 1 x 8.95 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    0262600692
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0262600699
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About the Author

Marion J. Lamb was Senior Lecturer at Birkbeck College, University of London, before her retirement.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bradford Books
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 1, 2006
  • Edition ‏ : ‎ Third Impression
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 462 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0262600692
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0262600699
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.45 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.95 x 1 x 8.95 inches
  • Part of series ‏ : ‎ Life and Mind: Philosophical Issues in Biology and Psychology
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 out of 5 stars 106 ratings

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Eva Jablonka

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4.4 out of 5 stars
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  • Edward J. Steffes
    5.0 out of 5 stars More Dynamic, Information-Rich View of Evolution
    Reviewed in the United States on December 24, 2009
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Jablonka and Lamb pull together many ideas about evolution to suggest that the Modern Synthesis prevalent since the 1930s is due for a reconceptualization. They argue that evolution involves not one but four kinds of inheritance systems: genetic, epigenetic, behavioral, and (in humans) symbolic. Epigenetic systems involve cellular variations appearing in the course of development, so that cells with the same DNA can develop in quite different directions. Since this information is preserved when cells divide, it can also be inherited in the reproduction of unicellular or asexually reproducing multicellular organisms. (Inheritance by sexually reproducing organisms is tricker but also possible.) Behavioral inheritance among organisms occurs through the transfer of behavior-influencing substances and through imitative and non-imitative learning. Human symbolic communication is an especially rich inheritance system, with features such as the capacity to share imagined behaviors never before tried. The genetic and non-genetic inheritance systems work together in evolution, with non-genetic changes often becoming genetically assimilated. For example, if a human population domesticates cows and starts relying on dairy products, genetic variations in the ability to digest lactose become relevant to natural selection, and so gene frequencies can change as a result of the change in customs. Jablonka and Lamb suggest that non-genetic changes often lead the way in animal evolution, with genetic changes playing catch-up.

    Not only is this book a far cry from the simplistic genetic determinism that characterizes many popular discussions of evolution, but it is also a departure from 20th-century Darwinian orthodoxy. While genetic changes are usually blind to outcomes, the variations that are transmitted epigenetically, behaviorally or symbolically are often more targeted, arising in responses to signals from the environment. The environment plays the dual role of inducing as well as selecting variations, and the variations are more like educated guesses about what will work than random shots in the dark. The fact that these acquired innovations can be inherited (one way or another, though not by direct modifications of genes) means that evolution is partly Lamarckian after all, at least in a broad sense of the term.

    Orthodox Darwinism has always been a philosophically puzzling doctrine. For a theory of change, it has placed a surprising amount of emphasis on the continuity of being, with change appearing as an accident that only occasionally happens to contribute to that continuity. For a theory of information, it has been surprisingly preoccupied with blind, completely uninformed variation. Jablonka and Lamb's understanding of evolution is both more dynamic and informationally richer. Inherited information is no longer confined to the genome, but can include information acquired and used in the course of development. Organisms participate in evolution not just as vehicles for the transmission of fixed information units (genes or their imagined cultural counterparts, memes, a notion J & L critique vigorously), but as active acquirers and interpreters of information. This is consistent with Stuart Kauffman's contention that life is even more complex and creative than biologists have realized.

    The book is extremely well written and documented, so that the arguments are easy to follow by readers with a limited background in biology. Highly recommended for biologists and non-biologists alike.
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  • John E. Mack
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book. Wish it Were Better.
    Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2006
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    This is such a good book, I wish it were better. In particular, I wish that the authors had not spent so much time discussing the effects of informational and symbolic transmission on evolution (most of which is fairly obvious) and spent more time on the fascinating topics of epigentic transmission and genetic control systems, which are extremely complex and difficult issues, and go by too fast.

    The authors pose a question that evolutionary scholar rarely broach: If evolution produces and preserves adaptive traits, why does it not produce the trait that is the most adaptive of all -- the ability to directly transmit acquired adaptive characteristics to offspring? Ironically, despite their qualified claim that organisims do have such an ability, the authors provide an excellent Darwinian reason why this trait is so limited -- because a species which possesses it (like, say, humans) is so likely to "crash and burn" if it mistakenly adopts a trait which turns out to be maladaptive.

    Jablonski and her co-author are neo-Lamarkians; that is, they believe (or want to believe) in the inheritance of acquired characterists. Lamarkism is deeply distrusted by evolutionary biologists for two very good reasons: there is not much evidence for it, and a mechanism for transmitting acquired characteristics seems biochemically impossible. The authors present some good arguments why this might not be so. Particulary impressive is their discussion of epigenetics -- biochemical processess not involving genes which nonethelesss affect an organism's development. Epigenetic processes pretty clearly can be affected by environmental factors, and so environmental factors do have a direct impact on bodily devlopment, and hence evolution. More relevantly, epigentic developments can apparently be directly incorporated into the organism's germ line (the system which involves reproduction), and hence heredity, without the necessity of mutation. This issue is deep and difficult probably deserved a whole book of its own.

    The writing is clear and the illustrations are helpful, if a bit "cute." This book is a wonderful introduction to a problematical subject. Persons who are suspicious of classical Darwinism, but suspect that intelligent design theory is nonsense will love this book.
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  • 忙しくない
    4.0 out of 5 stars very good
    Reviewed in Japan on March 6, 2015
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    斬新なアイデアに満ちた内容で，生物学を学ぶ者にとってすぜひとも目を通しておくべき本です。。
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  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars There is always another way to look at things
    Reviewed in Germany on June 24, 2017
    Verified Purchase
    The books is great, I was trying to get my hands on this revised edition for some time, science finds out something new every day, so a book that is older than a decade is bound to be at least partly outdated, that is why it is awesome they incorporated new discoveries into this edition!

    I love that they focus on little bit of history of the evolution theories from 19. to 20. century, it gives you little bit of perspective on how much the views change over time, old ideas are replaced by new ones and then they come back when the new is disproved, science is ever-changing field of discoveries and wonder.
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  • ralunicol
    5.0 out of 5 stars Erudition scientifique
    Reviewed in France on May 29, 2022
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    Un régal de précision et clarté par des scientifiques hors pair.
    Un réel plaisir de lecture et apprentissage dans un language accessible malgré les items assez compliquées.
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  • Lifelong learning freelancer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 31, 2018
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    Great Read !
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  • Cliente de Amazon
    5.0 out of 5 stars excellent book
    Reviewed in Mexico on May 20, 2019
    Verified Purchase
    It is very pleasant and easy to read for those who are not specialists. Definitely, this book poses a new paradigm about inheritance and evolution
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