Tabery, James Gregory
(2007)
Causation in the Nature-Nurture Debate: The Case of Genotype-Environment Interaction.
Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh.
(Unpublished)
Abstract
I attempt to resolve an aspect of the nature-nurture debate. Consider a typical nature-nurture question: Why do some individuals develop a complex trait such as depression, while others do not? This question incorporates an etiological query about the causal mechanisms responsible for the individual development of depression; it also incorporates an etiological query about the causes of variation responsible for individual differences in the occurrence of depression. Scientists in the developmental research tradition of biology investigate the former; scientists in the biometric research tradition of biology investigate the latter. So what is the relationship?The developmental and biometric research traditions, I argue, are united in their joint effort to elucidate what I call difference mechanisms. Difference mechanisms are regular causal mechanisms made up of difference-making variables that take different values in the natural world. On this model, individual differences are the effect of difference-makers in development that take different values in the natural world. I apply this model to the case of genotype-environment interaction (or G×E), showing that there have actually been two separate concepts of G×E: a biometric concept (or G×EB) and a developmental concept (or G×ED). These concepts also may be integrated via the difference mechanisms model: G×E results from the interdependence of difference-makers in development that take different values in the natural world.
Share
| Citation/Export: |
|
| Social Networking: |
|
Details
| Item Type: |
University of Pittsburgh ETD
|
| Status: |
Unpublished |
| Creators/Authors: |
|
| ETD Committee: |
|
| Date: |
20 September 2007 |
| Date Type: |
Completion |
| Defense Date: |
17 July 2007 |
| Approval Date: |
20 September 2007 |
| Submission Date: |
23 July 2007 |
| Access Restriction: |
No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately. |
| Institution: |
University of Pittsburgh |
| Schools and Programs: |
Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences > History and Philosophy of Science |
| Degree: |
PhD - Doctor of Philosophy |
| Thesis Type: |
Doctoral Dissertation |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
Causation; Difference-Makers; Eugenics; Gene-Environment Interaction; History of Genetics; IQ Controversy; Lancelot Hogben; Mechanism; R.A. Fisher; Race; Explanation; Philosophy of Science |
| Other ID: |
http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-07232007-121636/, etd-07232007-121636 |
| Date Deposited: |
10 Nov 2011 19:53 |
| Last Modified: |
15 Nov 2016 13:46 |
| URI: |
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/8535 |
Metrics
Monthly Views for the past 3 years
Plum Analytics
Actions (login required)
 |
View Item |
![[feed]](/images/feed-icon-32x32.png){kind=icon}