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Genetic Information: A Metaphor In Search of a Theory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Paul E. Griffiths
Paul E. Griffiths*
Affiliation:
Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh
*
†Send requests for reprints to the author, Department of History and Philosophy of Science, 1017 Cathedral of Learning, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260 USA; email: pauleg@pitt.edu.
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Abstract

John Maynard Smith has defended against philosophical criticism the view that developmental biology is the study of the expression of information encoded in the genes by natural selection. However, like other naturalistic concepts of information, this “teleosemantic” concept is equally applicable to many non-genetic factors in development. Maynard Smith also fails to show that developmental biology is concerned with teleosemantic information. Some other ways to support Maynard Smith's conclusion are considered. It is argued that on any definition of information the view that development is the expression of genetic information is misleading. Some reasons for the popularity of that view are suggested.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 68 , Issue 3 , September 2001 , pp. 394 - 412
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 2001

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Footnotes

‡

A version of this paper was read at the International Society for the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology in Oaxaca, Mexico in June 1999. I am indebted to that audience and to Russell Gray and Robert Olby for comments on the manuscript.

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