Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-01T01:30:50.120Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Heritability and Causality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Neven Sesardic
Neven Sesardic*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, University of Zagreb
*
‡Send reprint requests to the author, Department of Philosophy, University of Zagreb, Kjure Salaja 3, 41000 Zagreb, Croatia.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The critics of “hereditarianism” often claim that any attempt to explain human behavior by invoking genes is confronted with insurmountable methodological difficulties. They reject the idea that heritability estimates could lead to genetic explanations by pointing out that these estimates are strictly valid only for a given population and that they are exposed to the irremovable confounding effects of genotype-environment interaction and genotype-environment correlation. I argue that these difficulties are greatly exaggerated, and that we would be wrong to regard them as presenting a fundamental obstacle to the search for genetic explanations. I also show that, to the extent they are cogent, these objections may prove to be even more damaging to the “environmentalist” standpoint.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 60 , Issue 3 , September 1993 , pp. 396 - 418
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

†

I wish to thank the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the Center for Interdisciplinary Research of the University of Bielefeld for supporting the work on this paper. I am also grateful to Richard Lewontin for giving his opinion on the first draft, and particularly to an anonymous referee for Philosophy of Science for extensive and very constructive critical comments.

References

Blalock, H. M., Jr, . (1979), Social Statistics. 2d ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Block, N. J. and Dworkin, G. (1976), “IQ, Heritability and Inequality”, in Block, N. J. and Dworkin, G. (eds.), The IQ Controversy. New York: Random House, pp. 410–540.Google Scholar
Bouchard, T. J., Jr, . (1987), “The Hereditarian Research Program: Triumphs and Tribulations”, in Modgil, S. and Modgil, C., (eds.), S. Modgil and C. Modgil, New York: The Falmer Press.Google Scholar
Bouchard, T. J., Jr, . and Segal, N. L. (1985), “Environment and IQ”, in Wolman, B. B. (ed.), Handbook of Intelligence: Theories, Measurements, and Applications. New York: Wiley, pp. 391–464.Google Scholar
Box, G. E. P.; Hunter, W. G.; and Hunter, J. S. (1978), Statistics for Experimenters: An Introduction to Design, Data Analysis and Model Building. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Burian, R. M. (1978), “A Methodological Critique of Sociobiology”, in Caplan, A. L. (ed.), The Sociobiology Debate. New York: Harper & Row, pp. 376–395.Google Scholar
Burian, R. M. (1981–1982), “Human Sociobiology and Genetic Determinism”, The Philosophical Forum 13: 43–66.Google Scholar
Cattell, R. B. (1982), The Inheritance of Personality and Ability. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Comings, D. E. (1989), “Presidential Address: The Genetics of Human Behavior—Lessons for Two Societies”, American Journal of Human Genetics 44: 452–460.Google Scholar
Crow, J. F. (1990), “How Important is Detecting Interaction?”, Behavioral and Brain Sciences 13: 126–127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crow, J. F. and Kimura, M. (1970), Introduction to Population Genetics. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
DeFries, J. C. (1967), “Quantitative Genetics and Behavior: Overview and Perspective”, in Hirsch, J. (ed.), Behavior-Genetic Analysis. New York: McGraw-Hill, pp. 322–339.Google Scholar
DeFries, J. C. (1972), “Quantitative Aspects of Genetics and Environment in the Determination of Behavior”, in Ehrman, L., Omenn, G. S. and Caspari, E. (eds.), Genetics, Environment and Behavior. New York: Academic Press, pp. 6–16.Google Scholar
Dobzhansky, T. (1955), Evolution, Genetics, and Man. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Duncan, O. D. (1971), “Path Analysis: Sociological Examples”, in Blalock, H. M., Jr, . (ed.), H. M. Blalock, Jr. Chicago: Aldine, pp. 115–138.Google Scholar
Erlenmeyer-Kimling, L. (1972), “Gene-Environment Interaction and the Variability of Behavior”, in Ehrman, L., Omenn, G. S. and Caspari, E. (eds.), Genetics, Environment and Behavior. New York: Academic Press, pp. 181–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Falconer, D. S. (1964), Introduction to Quantitative Genetics. Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd.Google Scholar
Feldman, M. W. and Lewontin, R. C. (1975), “The Heritability Hang-up”, Science 190: 1163–1168.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fuller, J. L. (1972), “Discussion”, in Ehrman, L., Omenn, G. S. and Caspari, E. (eds.), Genetics, Environment and Behavior. New York: Academic Press, pp. 17–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Futuyma, D. J. (1986), Evolutionary Biology. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates.Google ScholarPubMed
Gould, S. J. (1977), “Biological Potential vs. Biological Determinism”, in Ever Since Darwin. Harmondsworth: Penguin, pp. 251–259.Google Scholar
Hays, W. L. (1973), Statistics for the Social Sciences. 2d ed. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.Google Scholar
Heise, D. R. (1975), Causal Analysis. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Hellevik, O. (1984), Introduction to Causal Analysis: Exploring Survey Data by Crosstabulation. London: George Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
Herrnstein, R. J. (1973), I.Q. in the Meritocracy. Boston: Atlantic Monthly Press.Google Scholar
Hirsch, J. (1976), “Behavior-Genetic Analysis and Its Biosocial Consequences”, in Block, N. J. and Dworkin, G. (eds.), The IQ Controversy. New York: Random House, pp. 156–178.Google Scholar
Jencks, C. (1980), “Heredity, Environment, and Human Policy Reconsidered”, American Sociological Review 45: 723–736.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jencks, C. et al. (1975), Inequality. Harmondsworth: Penguin.Google Scholar
Jensen, A. R. (1969), “How Much Can We Boost IQ and Scholastic Achievement?”, Harvard Educational Review 39: 1–123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jensen, A. R. (1972), “Discussion”, in Ehrman, L., Omenn, G. S. and Caspari, E. (eds.), Genetics, Environment and Behavior. New York: Academic Press, pp. 240–246.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jensen, A. R. (1976), “The Problem of Genotype-Environment Correlation in the Estimation of Heritability from Monozygotic and Dizygotic Twins”, Acta Geneticae Medicae et Gemellologiae 25: 86–99.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jensen, A. R. (1981), Straight Talk about Mental Tests. London: Methuen.Google Scholar
Kitcher, P. (1985), Vaulting Ambition: Sociobiology and the Quest For Human Nature. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Kitcher, P. (1987), “The Transformation of Human Sociobiology”, in Fine, A. and Machamer, P. (eds.), PSA 1986, vol. 2. East Lansing: Philosophy of Science Association, pp. 63–74.Google Scholar
Kitcher, P. (1990), “Developmental Decomposition and the Future of Human Behavioral Ecology”, Philosophy of Science 57: 96–117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Layzer, D. (1974), “Heritability Analyses of IQ Scores: Science or Numerology”, Science 183: 1259–1266.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Layzer, D. (1976), “Science or Superstition? A Physical Scientist Looks at the IQ Controversy”, in Block, N. J. and Dworkin, G. (eds.), The IQ Controversy. New York: Random House, pp. 194–241.Google Scholar
Lewontin, R. C. (1976), “The Analysis of Variance and the Analysis of Causes”, in Block, N. J. and Dworkin, G. (eds.), The IQ Controversy. New York: Random House, pp. 179–193.Google Scholar
Lewontin, R. C. (1982), Human Diversity. New York: Scientific American Books.Google Scholar
Lewontin, R. C. (1983), “Gene, Organism and Environment”, in Bendali, D. S. (ed.), Evolution from Molecules to Men. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, pp. 273–285.Google Scholar
Lewontin, R. C.; Rose, S.; and Kamin, L. (1984), Not in Our Genes. Harmondsworth: Penguin.Google Scholar
Loehlin, J. C.; Lindzey, G.; and Spuhler, J. N. (1975), Race Differences in Intelligence. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman.Google Scholar
Maynard Smith, J. (1989), Evolutionary Genetics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
McGue, M. (1989), “Nature-Nurture and Intelligence”, Nature 340: 507–508.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mednick, S. A.; Gabrielli, W. F.; and Hutchings, B. (1987), “Genetic Factors in the Etiology of Criminal Behavior”, in Mednick, S. A., Moffitt, T. E. and Stack, S. A. (eds.), The Causes of Crime. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, pp. 74–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plomin, R. (1986), Development, Genetics, and Psychology. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Plomin, R.; DeFries, J. C.; and Fulker, D. W. (1988), Nature and Nurture During Infancy and Early Childhood. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plomin, R.; DeFries, J. C.; and Loehlin, J. C. (1977), “Genotype-Environment Interaction and Correlation in the Analysis of Human Behavior”, Psychological Bulletin 84: 309–322.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Plomin, R.; DeFries, J. C.; and McCleam, G. E. (1980), Behavior Genetics: A Primer. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman.Google Scholar
Roberts, R. C. (1967), “Some Concepts and Methods in Quantitative Genetics”, in Hirsch, J. (ed.), Behavior-Genetic Analysis. New York: McGraw-Hill, pp. 212–219.Google Scholar
Rose, S. (1986), “The Limits to Science”, in Rose, S. and Appignanesi, L. (eds.), Science and Beyond. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 26–37.Google Scholar
Scarr-Salapatek, S. (1976), “Unknown in the IQ Equation”, in Block, N. J. and Dworkin, G. (eds.), The IQ Controversy. New York: Random House, pp. 113–130.Google Scholar
Schiff, M. and Lewontin, R. (1986), Education and Class: The Irrelevance of IQ Genetic Studies. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Sober, E. (1984), The Nature of Selection. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Stearns, S. C. (1989), “The Evolutionary Significance of Evolutionary Plasticity”, BioScience 39: 436–445.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stinchcombe, A. (1968), Constructing Social Theories. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World.Google Scholar
Sultan, S. E. (1987), “Evolutionary Implications of Phenotypic Plasticity in Plants”, in Hecht, M. K., Wallace, B. and Prance, G. T. (eds.), Evolutionary Biology 21. New York: Plenum Press, pp. 127–178.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, H. F. (1980), The IQ Game: A Methodological Inquiry into the Heredity-Environment Controversy. Brighton: Harvester Press.Google Scholar
Waddington, C. H. (1957), The Strategy of the Genes. London: George Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
Wahlsten, D. (1990), “Insensitivity of the Analysis of Variance to Heredity-Environment Interaction”, Behavioral and Brain Sciences 13: 109–120, 146–155.CrossRefGoogle Scholar