Current knowledge of the genetic, epigenetic, behavioural and symbolic systems of inheritance

Requires a revision and extension of the mid-twentieth-century, gene-based, "Modern Synthesis" version of Darwinian evolutionary theory. We present the case for this by first outlining the history that led to the neo-Darwinian view of evolution.

Outline of the history

In the second section we describe and compare different types of inheritance, and in the third discuss the implications of a broad view of heredity for various aspects of evolutionary theory.

Implications and philosophical considerations

We end with an examination of the philosophical and conceptual ramifications of evolutionary thinking that incorporates multiple inheritance systems.