The interactive genome: Piaget and evolution

• Grant number: 12/22221-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate (Direct)
• Start date: March 01, 2013
• End date: May 31, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Human Development Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Lino de Macedo
• Grantee: Paulo Candido de Oliveira Filho
• Host Institution: Instituto de Psicologia (IP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Jean Piaget was a consistent and severe critic of the Neo-Darwinist consensus, in particular to the prominence given by the protagonists of the Modern Synthesis of evolution to the aleatory causes of mutation as the main driver of genetic change. Piaget's alternate model for the mechanisms of evolution are presented in three successive books, "Biology and Knowledge", "Vital Adaptation" and "Behavior and Evolution" and insists on the idea that the genes are not only modified by external factors (mutagens), but are also capable, along with all other levels of an organism, of becoming modified in response to environmental pressures. Although this model was central to Piaget's theory, defining the necessary links between inheritance and behavioral traits, such as observed in Psychology, and showing the formal parallelism between the mechanisms involved in the evolution of species and in the biological development and those involved in cognitive development, it has been mostly ignored. Some of the problems here might be the hypothetical-deductive rather than experimental nature of the evidence presented by Piaget and also the apparent "Lamarkian" flavor of his model, resembling a view of evolutionary change that the 20th century Biology considered generally to be a 19th century anachronism. Accordingly, the few pieces of evidence he presents to support his ideas come from limited studies concerning purely phenotypic aspects of mollusks and plants. On the other hand, Piaget was very well-informed about the advances of the genetic and molecular biology during his lifetime. He has, for instance, discussed at length the RNA reverse influence on the DNA as a possible mechanism for the incorporation of phenotypic traits in the genotype. However, in the 30 years since Piaget's death, technical advances have led to accumulation of a respectable mass of evidence demonstrating the capacity of both genetic and epigenetic (mainly methylation) systems for change in response to environmental pressures and leading to transgenerational transmission of acquired or learned characters. Taken together, the evidence coming from hundreds of studies with many species of plants and animals, including humans, end up building a picture very similar to that proposed by Piaget. This study attempts to restore the importance of the biological roots of Piaget's theory, showing how evolutionary evidence derived during the last two decades now provides support for the Piagetian model of evolution. It also explores the consequences of a mechanism of evolution where acquired traits or knowledge can be inherited by future generations and impact individual psychological development, and discusses how these biological and psychological findings may eventually affect the fields of Philosophy and Ethics on one side, and Pedagogy, on the other. (AU)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

OLIVEIRA FILHO, Paulo Candido de. O genoma interativo: o modelo de adaptação de Piaget e evidências da Biologia atual. 2015. Doctoral Thesis - Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Psicologia (IP/SBD) São Paulo.