Join us for a virtual talk by geneticist Eva Jablonka (Tel Aviv University) on inheritance systems and the extended evolutionary synthesis. This event will take place via zoom.

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ABSTRACT

There is a debate among evolutionary biologists today about the need to significantly revise the neo-Darwinian model of evolution that was dominant over the last seventy years. After presenting the views for and against the revision, I discuss the challenges to the traditional theory that are coming from an expanded notion of heredity, focusing on the evolutionary implications of epigenetic and cultural inheritance. I suggest that these challenges require a reformulation of basic assumptions of the dominant neo-Darwinian version of evolutionary theory and the construction of a new, extended and revised evolutionary thought-style.

SPEAKER PROFILE

Eva Jablonka has research interests that span heredity, epigenetics, evolutionary biology, behavioral ecology, developmental biology, language and cultural evolution, history of genetics, and the philosophy of science. She was awarded a BSc in Biology in 1976 and an MSc in Microbiology in 1980, both from Ben-Gurion University, Israel, followed by a PhD in Genetics from the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel, in 1988.

Jablonka is a professor at the Cohn Institute for the History of Philosophy of Science and Ideas at Tel Aviv University, and has the following affiliations: The Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv 69978, Israel; The Sagol School for Neuroscience, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv 69978, Israel; Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science, London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London, WC2A 2AE, UK

Read more about Eva Jablonka.

Pictured above: North American Beaver by Tim Lumley (license)