Richard Lewontin Analysis

Inheritance is defined by the Merriam Webster Dictionary as the acquisition of a possession, condition, or trait from past generations. While this subject is most often applied and discussed within relation to familial bonds, whether it be through gene pool or property, the idea of inheritance is also present throughout documented relationships between mentors and students. The philosophical lineage of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle is a model example of mentor’s influence onto the ideologies and writing styles of their students. Students may not wholeheartedly agree with the idea of their mentors, however their influence can be felt throughout the writings. The relationship between the teachers Richard Lewontin, and Stephen Jay Gould, and their student, Elisabeth Lloyd, is also representative of the ideological imprint left on students. However, regardless of the undeniable connection …show more content…
In 1979, Stephen Gould and Richard Lewontin collaborated to write a piece entitled, The Spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian Paradigm: A critique of the Adaptationist Programme. Gould and Lewontin aim to provide substantial evidence against the widespread use of the adaptationist programme throughout the scientific community. The adaptationist programme, as explained by Gould and Lewontin, is a paradigm rooted in a notion popularized by Alfred Russel Wallace and August Weismann that regards natural selection as the omnipotent force present in organic design. (584) According to this idea, natural selection has few constraints, making it the predominant cause of inheritable forms, functions and behaviors. (585) However, Gould and Lewontin disagree that this is the best reasoning to adopt. The authors argue that this system is wrongly deified, and provide potential alternatives to this programme through a different understanding of

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