Re: virus: Science, Sex, and Religion (where's Politics?)

David McFadzean (david@lucifer.com)
Wed, 25 Sep 1996 17:51:30 -0600


At 02:42 PM 20/09/96 EDT, you wrote:
>Sorry. My mistake. The glossary is in the back of "The Extended
>Phenotype."

For those that don't yet have a copy of this excellent tome:

teleonomy - The science of adaptation. In effect teleonomy is teleology
made respectable by Darwin, but generations of biologists have been
schooled to avoid 'teleology' as though it were an incorrect construction
in Latin grammar, and many feel more comfortable with a euphemism. Not
much thought has been given to what the science of telonomy will consist
of, but some of its major preoccupations will presumably be the questions
of units of selection, and of costs and other constraints on perfection.
This book is an essay on teleonomy.

[There is no definition of teleology in my edition.]

--
David McFadzean                 david@ideosphere.com
Memetic Engineer                http://www.ideosphere.com/~david/
Ideosphere Inc.                 http://www.ideosphere.com