Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-c4f8m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T07:43:18.047Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Only three dimensions and the mother of invention

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 December 2007

Jeff Foss
Jeff Foss
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, V8W 2Y2, Canada. jefffoss@uvic.ca
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Although the first three dimensions of evolution outlined by Jablonka & Lamb (J&L) are persuasively presented as aspects of evolutionary science, the fourth dimension, symbolic evolution, is problematic: Though it may in some metaphorical sense be happening, there cannot be a science of symbolic evolution. Symbolic evolution essentially involves meaning, which, besides being nonphysical, resolutely resists scientific categorization.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 30 , Issue 4 , August 2007 , pp. 370
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Foss, J. (1992) Introduction to the epistemology of the brain: Indeterminacy, micro specificity, chaos, and openness. Topoi 11:45–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foss, J. (2000) Science and the riddle of consciousness: A solution. Kluwer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jablonka, E. & Lamb, M. J. (2005) Evolution in four dimensions: Genetic, epigenetic, behavioral, and symbolic variation in the history of life. MIT Press.Google Scholar