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Krasnow Institute > Monday Seminars > Abstracts Genes, Behavior, and Developmental Emergentism: Kenneth F. Schaffner Claims about the influence of genes on behavior raise difficult philosophical and social questions. Scientists involved in the Human Genome Project (HGP) expect to have the entire human genome described at the DNA level by the year 2005, and claim that many diseases, including behavioral disorders, have a "genetic component." How should we best think about the relations between genes and behavior? A "Developmentalist Challenge" has been put forth by a number of biologists and philosophers stating that genetic influence on organisms is indivisibly interwoven with environmental effects and random "developmental noise," and as a consequence, behavior is "emergent." How serious is this challenge? Do recent results in the behavioral genetics of simple organisms (worms and fruit flies), where "neural nets" and "learning" have been found, provide any lessons for more complex organisms? Finally, are the "genetic component" claims just rhetoric designed to sustain funding for the first "Big Science" biology research project -- the HGP -- or are these substantive claims that can effectively respond to the "Developmentalist Challenge"?
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