Nicoglou, Antonine (Author)
Merlin, Francesca (Author)
Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences
Volume: 66
Pages: 73-82
The concept of epigenetics has evolved since Waddington defined it from the late 1930s as the study of the causal mechanisms at work in development. It has become a multi-faceted notion with different meanings, depending on the disciplinary context it is used. In this article, we first analyse the transformations of the concept of epigenetics, from Waddington to contemporary accounts, in order to identify its different meanings and traditions, and to come up with a typology of epigenetics throughout its history. Second, we show on this basis that epigenetics has progressively turned its main focus from biological problems regarding development, toward issues concerning evolution. Yet, both these different epistemological aspects of epigenetics still coexist. Third, we claim that the classical opposition between epigenesis and preformationism as ways of thinking about the developmental process is part of the history of epigenetics and has contributed to its current various meanings. With these objectives in mind, we first show how Waddington introduced the term “epigenetics” in a biological context in order to solve a developmental problem, and we then build on this by presenting Nanney's, Riggs' and Holliday's definitions, which form the basis for the current conception of “molecular epigenetics”. Then, we show that the evo-devo research field is where some particular uses of epigenetics have started shifting from developmental issues to evolutionary problems. We also show that epigenetics has progressively focused on the issue of epigenetic inheritance within the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis' framework. Finally, we conclude by presenting a typology of the different conceptions of epigenetics throughout time, and analyse the connections between them. We argue that, since Waddington, epigenetics, as an integrative research area, has been used to bridge the gap between different biological fields.
...MoreSimilar Citations
Article
Antonine Nicoglou;
(2018)
Waddington’s Epigenetics or the Pictorial Meetings of Development and Genetics
Article
Paternain Suberviola, José Luis;
Cabré Bargalló, Maria;
Montero i Simó, Miguel Ángel;
Romeu Figuerola, Antoni;
(2009)
Conrad Hal Waddington (1905--1975): el naixement de l'epigenètica
Article
Laurent Loison;
(2022)
The environment: An ambiguous concept in Waddington's biology
Book
Minelli, Alessandro;
Pradeu, Thomas;
(2014)
Towards a Theory of Development
Article
Hall, Brian K.;
(2008)
EvoDevo Concepts in the Work of Waddington
Article
Christina Brandt;
(2022)
Development and Heredity in the Interwar Period: Hans Spemann and Fritz Baltzer on Organizers and Merogones
Thesis
Love, Alan Christopher;
(2005)
Explaining Evolutionary Innovation and Novelty: A Historical and Philosophical Study of Biological Concepts
Book
Susan Merrill Squier;
(2017)
Epigenetic Landscapes: Drawings as Metaphor
Chapter
Aldo Fasolo;
Davide Lovisolo;
(2015)
"The Cell in Development and Inheritance", centoventi anni dopo. E.B. Wilson, la teoria cellulare e il tassello mancante: la membrana plasmatica
Article
Alessandro Minelli;
(2020)
Genes, embryos and evolution
Book
Maurizio Meloni;
(2016)
Political Biology: Science and Social Values in Human Heredity from Eugenics to Epigenetics
Book
Hallam Stevens;
Sarah S. Richardson;
(2015)
Postgenomics: Perspectives on Biology after the Genome
Book
Michel Morange;
(2020)
The Black Box of Biology: A History of the Molecular Revolution
Article
Hull, David L.;
(2011)
Defining Darwinism
Article
Grant Fisher;
(2023)
Practical pursuit in stem cell biology: Innovation, translation, and incomplete theorization
Article
Philippe Huneman;
(2019)
The Multifaceted Legacy of the Human Genome Program for Evolutionary Biology: An Epistemological Perspective
Article
Peterson, Erik L.;
(2011)
The Excluded Philosophy of Evo-Devo? Revisiting C.H. Waddington's Failed Attempt to Embed Alfred North Whitehead's “Organicism” in Evolutionary Biology
Article
María Alejandra Petino Zappala;
(2024)
A framework for the integration of development and evolution: The forgotten legacy of James Meadows Rendel
Book
Russell Bonduriansky;
Troy Day;
(2018)
Extended Heredity: A New Understanding of Inheritance and Evolution
Chapter
Jablonka, Eva;
(2011)
Cellular Epigenetic Inheritance in the Twenty-First Century
Be the first to comment!