Genetic, epigenetic, and exogenetic information

Karola Stotz, Paul Griffiths

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

    4 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    The most popular account of genetic information in contemporary philosophy is “teleosemantics” (Millikan 1984; Maynard Smith 2000; Shea 2007; Kingsbury, Chapter 20 this volume). This yields a semantic notion of information-the information in a gene is a description or an instruction and as such genetic information can be true or false, obeyed or disobeyed. It also defines the information content of a gene in terms of the evolutionary history of that gene. Physically identical genes can have entirely different information content if they evolved due to different selective pressures. This way of thinking about genetic information corresponds closely to the image of genes in popular science. Genes are coded messages instructing organisms to develop in one way or another, and those instructions were written by evolution.

    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationThe Routledge handbook of evolution and philosophy
    EditorsRichard Joyce
    Place of PublicationNew York ; London
    PublisherRoutledge, Taylor and Francis Group
    Chapter8
    Pages106-119
    Number of pages14
    ISBN (Electronic)9781317655572, 9781315764863
    ISBN (Print)9781138789555
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2018

    Publication series

    NameRoutledge Handbooks in Philosophy
    PublisherRoutledge

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