Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The theory, based on Lamarckism, that response to environmental influence can be inherited and transmitted through the action of natural selection.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A modification of the opinions of the French naturalist, the Chevalier de Lamarck (1744–1829), on the origin of Species.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Biol.) Lamarckism as revived, modified, and expounded by recent biologists, esp. as maintaining that the offspring inherits characters acquired by the parent from change of environment, use or disuse of parts, etc.; -- opposed of
Neo-Darwinism (which see, above).
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a modern Lamarckian theory emphasizing the importance of environmental factors in genetic changes and retaining the notion of the inheritance of acquired characters
Etymologies
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Examples
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I am a big fan of 'Neo-Lamarckism' in the context of EAM.
Assessing Causality 2008
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Neo-Lamarckism was very popular among American scientists at the turn of the twentieth century, and served as one of the philosophical underpinnings of 'scientific eugenics' in its positive forms.
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The next letter relates to a controversy with Romanes concerning Herbert Spencer's argument about Co-adaptation which Romanes had urged in support of Neo-Lamarckism as opposed to Natural Selection.
Alfred Russel Wallace Letters and Reminiscences Marchant, James 1916
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