Did Population Genetics Change the Way We Think About It?

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Population genetics emerged before we knew what the material basis of heredity was. And there you rely on a definition of a gen thats complete agnostic about the material basis. i do think it's rather remarkable that they work so well despite being completely ignorant about what they material basis actually. Yes, yesmean indeed, the population, genetic jean, as we use it still in poplition is much closer, in the way, to the original mendelion. Youmean, ascano asi was originally.

One of the brilliant achievements of Darwin’s theory of natural selection was to help explain apparently “purposeful” or “designed” aspects of biology in a purely mechanistic theory of unguided evolution. Features are good if they help organisms survive. But should we put organisms at the center of our attention, or the genetic information that governs those features? Arvid Ågren helps us understand the attraction of the “selfish gene” view of evolution, as well as its shortcomings. This biological excursion has deep connections to philosophical issues of levels and emergence.

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Arvid Ågren received his Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Toronto. He is currently a Wenner-Gren Fellow at the Evolutionary Biology Centre at Uppsala University. Previously he worked at Cornell and Harvard. His recent book is The Gene’s-Eye View of Evolution.

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