Open AccessThe role of behaviour in the recurrence of biological processes
Author(s) -
Dupré John
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
biological journal of the linnean society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.906
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1095-8312
pISSN - 0024-4066
DOI - 10.1111/bij.12106
Subject(s) - biology , flexibility (engineering) , perspective (graphical) , variety (cybernetics) , biological evolution , evolutionary biology , intersection (aeronautics) , epistemology , reproduction , cognitive science , ecology , computer science , artificial intelligence , psychology , genetics , philosophy , statistics , mathematics , engineering , aerospace engineering
This paper examines the evolution of behaviour within a general perspective that sees evolution as the recurrence of processes, facilitated by a variety of behavioural and material inputs into development throughout the life cycle. The paper explores the ways in which behaviour is integrated into the reproduction of these developmental processes. One important conclusion of the analysis is that there is no reason to suppose that the rate of evolutionary change is limited, as evolutionary psychologists, in particular, have supposed, by the mechanisms for genetic transmission. This analysis also contributes to a broader picture which recognizes that biological entities are typically the sites of intersection of multiple processes, often on very different time scales. This is, indeed, a central reason why (more or less stabilized) processes must be treated as more fundamental than stable things in biology. The paper concludes with some reflections on how best to understand the flexibility of human nature. © 2013 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society , 2014, 112 , 306–314.