Genetic Representation Explains the Cluster of Innateness-Related Properties

Journal article

The concept of innateness is used to make inferences between various better-understood properties, like developmental canalization, evolutionary adaptation, heritability, species-typicality, and so on ('innateness-related properties'). This article uses a recently-developed account of the representational content carried by inheritance systems like the genome to explain why innateness-related properties cluster together, especially in non-human organisms. Although inferences between innateness-related properties are deductively invalid, and lead to false conclusions in many actual cases, where some aspect of a phenotypic trait develops in reliance on a genetic representation it will tend, better than chance, to have many of the innateness-related properties. The account also shows why inferences between innateness-related properties sometimes fail and argues that such inferences are especially misleading when applied to human psychology and behaviour because human psychological development is especially reliant on non-genetic inherited representations. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Authors: Shea, N

• Publication status: Published
• Journal: MIND and LANGUAGE
• Volume: 27
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 466-493
• Publication date: 2012-09-01
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0017.2012.01452.x
• EISSN: 1468-0017
• ISSN: 0268-1064
• Language: English