Ideas about heredity and evolution are undergoing a revolutionary change. New findings in molecular biology challenge the gene-centered version of Darwinian theory according to which adaptation occurs only through natural selection of change DNA variations. In Evolution in Four Dimensions the authors argue that there is more to heredity than genes. They trace four dimensions in evolution – four inheritance systems that play a role in evolution: genetic, epigenetic, (or non-DNA cellular transmission of traits), behavioral, and symbolic (transmission through language and other forms of symbolic communication). These systems, they argue, can all provide variations on which natural selection can act.
"There have been rumblings for some time to the effect that the neo-Darwinian synthesis of the early twentieth century is incomplete and due for a major revision [...] Evolution in Four Dimensions is the most recent addition to this genre, and contributes yet another valuable perspective to the discussion."
– Massimo Pigliucci, Nature
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Eva Jablonka is Professor at the Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas at Tel Aviv University. Marion J. Lamb was Senior Lecturer at Birkbeck College, University of London, before her retirement. Jablonka and Lamb have collaborated on a number of journal articles and books, including Epigenetic Inheritance and Evolution (1995).