Evolution and Learning: The Baldwin Effect Reconsidered
The essays in this book discuss the originally proposed Baldwin effect, how it was modified over time, and its possible contribution to contemporary empirical and theoretical evolutionary studies. The topics include the effect of the modern evolutionary synthesis on the notion of the Baldwin effect, the nature and role of niche construction in contemporary evolutionary theory, the Baldwin effect in the context of developmental systems theory, the possible role of the Baldwin effect in computational cognitive science biosemiotics, and the emergence of consciousness and language.Baldwin boosters, Baldwin skeptics -- Baldwin and his many effects / David J. Depew -- Baldwin effects and the expansion of the explanatory repertoire in evolutionary biology / Stephen M. Downes -- Between Baldwin skepticism and Baldwin boosterism / Peter Godfrey-Smith -- The Baldwin effect: a crane, not a skyhook / Daniel Dennett -- Multilevel selection in a complex adaptive system: the problem of language origins / Terrence W. Deacon -- Postscript on the Baldwin effect and niche construction / Peter Godfrey-Smith, Daniel Dennett, and Terrence W. Deacon -- Evolution, development, and the individual acquisition of traits: what we've learned since Baldwin / Celia L. Moore -- Baldwin and beyond: organic selection and genetic assimilation / Brian K. Hall -- On having a hammer / Susan Oyama -- Beyond the Baldwin effect: James Mark Baldwin's "Social Heredity," epigenetic inheritance, and niche construction / Paul E. Griffiths -- The Baldwin effect in the age of computation / Ruben R. Puentedura -- Role of predator-induced polyphenism in the evolution of cognition: a baldwinian speculation / Scott F. Gilbert -- Baldwin and biosemiotics: what intelligence is for / Jesper Hoffmeyer and Kalevi Kull -- The hierarchic logic of emergence: untangling the interdependence of evolution and self-organization / Terrence W. Deacon -- Emergence of mind and the Baldwin effect / Bruce H. Weber
