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Eugenics and Individual Phenotypic Variation: To What Extent Is Biology a Predictive Science?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Evan Balaban
Evan Balaban
Affiliation:
The Neurosciences Institute10640 John Jay Hopkins Drive San Diego, California
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Abstract

Eugenics, in whatever form it may be articulated, is based on the idea that phenotypic characteristics of particular individuals can be predicted in advance. This paper argues that biology's capacity to predict many of the characteristics exhibited by an individual, especially behavioral or cognitive attributes, will always be very limited. This stems from intrinsic limitations to the methodology for relating genotypes to phenotypes, and from the nature of developmental processes which intervene between genotypes and phenotypes. While genetic studies may generate valid population predictions for conditions which impact human health, neither genetics nor developmental biology are likely to generate useful individual predictions about variation in non-disease-related human behavioral and cognitive phenotypes in the foreseeable future.

Type
Eugenics and Science
Information
Science in Context , Volume 11 , Issue 3-4 , Autumn-Winter 1998 , pp. 331 - 356
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1998

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