Lenneberg on Genes, Development, and Maturation
Genes are undoubtedly an important piece of the organismal biological machinery,
and they unquestionably play a role in developmental processes. These
claims are near truisms. But how relevant are genes for such developmental processes
to be fulfilled? Currently, a strong disagreement exists on that issue, and
opposite answers are being offered. The “developmentalist challenge” (Weber &
Depew 2001), which we are about to expand on, has criticized and undermined
the Neo-Darwinian geno-centric stance that has defined modern biology for the
past half-century.
Several decades ago, things were different. When Lenneberg wrote his
book, biology was almost entirely dominated by the Neo-Darwinian postulates,
which can be briefly summarized as the claim that genes are the only relevant
materials for explaining development and evolution. Lenneberg’s thoughts went
beyond this ‘orthodox’ conception. Unfortunately, his views on this matter were
never, as far as we know, acknowledged nor highlighted. Worse, we will see
below that they have even been mischaracterized. By means of quotes from his
1967 book, we will try to show that Lenneberg considered genes to be a mere
starting-point, which is to be complemented with and related to many biological
elements and levels for making up non-trivial developmental paths.