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The Strategy of the Genes
First published in 1957, this essential classic work bridged the gap between analytical and theoretical biology, thus setting the insights of the former in a context which more sensitively reflects the ambiguities surrounding many of its core concepts and objectives.
Specifically, these five essays are concerned with some of the major problems of classical biology: the precise character of biological organisation, the processes which generate it, and the specifics of evolution. With regard to these issues, some thinkers suggest that biological organisms are not merely distinguishable from inanimate ‘things’ in terms of complexity, but are in fact radically different qualitatively: they exemplify some constitutive principle which is not elsewhere manifested.
It is the desire to bring such ideas into conformity with our understanding of analytical biology which unifies these essays. They explore the contours of a conceptual framework sufficiently wide to embrace all aspects of living systems.
Specifically, these five essays are concerned with some of the major problems of classical biology: the precise character of biological organisation, the processes which generate it, and the specifics of evolution. With regard to these issues, some thinkers suggest that biological organisms are not merely distinguishable from inanimate ‘things’ in terms of complexity, but are in fact radically different qualitatively: they exemplify some constitutive principle which is not elsewhere manifested.
It is the desire to bring such ideas into conformity with our understanding of analytical biology which unifies these essays. They explore the contours of a conceptual framework sufficiently wide to embrace all aspects of living systems.
274 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1957
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About the author
C.H. Waddington
34 books8 followersConrad Hal Waddington was a British biologist, embryologist, palaeontologist, geneticist and philosopher.
Waddington had wide interests that included poetry and painting, as well as left-wing political leanings. In his book The Scientific Attitude (1941), he touched on political topics such as central planning, and praised Marxism as a "profound scientific philosophy".
Waddington had wide interests that included poetry and painting, as well as left-wing political leanings. In his book The Scientific Attitude (1941), he touched on political topics such as central planning, and praised Marxism as a "profound scientific philosophy".
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 30, 2010
A fascinating work. Waddington developes concepts such as "creode" to explain stability in the expression of genes on structure and function. He speaks of "canalization," buffers against rapid change in genetic expression. A rather brief volume, but one that is rewarding to peruse. . . .
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February 26, 2025Fav quotes:
"A multidimensional phase space is not very easy for the simpleminded biologist to imagine or think about."
"One might compare an animal with a piece of music. Its short-scale physiology is like the vibrations of the individual notes; its medium-scale life history is like the melodic phrases into which the notes build themselves; and its long-scale evolution is like the structure of the whole musical composition, in which the melodies are repeated and varied."
"Any single animal taken from a freely interbreeding natural population will be found to differ genetically, to a greater or lesser extent, from its fellows. Its genotype contains a sample from the highly diversified collection of genes which is contained in the population as a whole, and which is known as its gene pool. Recent authors, particularly Dobzhansky and his associates, have shown that the gene pool of a population is not a mere haphazard assemblage of genes which have no essential connection with one another save the bare fact that they occur in members of the same interbreeding group. On the contrary, it seems that they are to some extent 'co-adapted'..."
"The environment of a population is usually to some extent fluctuating , and this in itself will produce variations in the 'fitness-surface' of Wright's model. The elevations will be more like the crest of an ocean roller in a choppy sea than a hilltop of solid rock..."
"A mere failure to evolve a narrow canalization would not suffice to ensure that physiological homeostasis would be achieved. Evolution has a much more ticklish task -- to tighten canalization against deleterious changes and loosen it in favor of adaptive ones."
"A multidimensional phase space is not very easy for the simpleminded biologist to imagine or think about."
"One might compare an animal with a piece of music. Its short-scale physiology is like the vibrations of the individual notes; its medium-scale life history is like the melodic phrases into which the notes build themselves; and its long-scale evolution is like the structure of the whole musical composition, in which the melodies are repeated and varied."
"Any single animal taken from a freely interbreeding natural population will be found to differ genetically, to a greater or lesser extent, from its fellows. Its genotype contains a sample from the highly diversified collection of genes which is contained in the population as a whole, and which is known as its gene pool. Recent authors, particularly Dobzhansky and his associates, have shown that the gene pool of a population is not a mere haphazard assemblage of genes which have no essential connection with one another save the bare fact that they occur in members of the same interbreeding group. On the contrary, it seems that they are to some extent 'co-adapted'..."
"The environment of a population is usually to some extent fluctuating , and this in itself will produce variations in the 'fitness-surface' of Wright's model. The elevations will be more like the crest of an ocean roller in a choppy sea than a hilltop of solid rock..."
"A mere failure to evolve a narrow canalization would not suffice to ensure that physiological homeostasis would be achieved. Evolution has a much more ticklish task -- to tighten canalization against deleterious changes and loosen it in favor of adaptive ones."
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews