Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Darwinian Biolinguistics pp 191–210Cite as

Evolutionary Plasticity

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

  • 413 Accesses

Part of the book series: Perspectives in Pragmatics, Philosophy & Psychology ((PEPRPHPS,volume 12))

Abstract

Understanding evolutionary plasticity is one of the key points of the DBM. While, in fact, the finding of functional plasticity fails to shed light on the relationships and hierarchies among externalization devices and central coordination arrangements due to the substantial simultaneity with which they occur, the evolutionary approach allows us to do just that. In an orthodox Darwinian framework – respectful of the structural gradualness principle – it seems clear that the neuromotor coordination processes must necessarily follow the innovation (mutation) structural process. This principle is reconstructed through the pioneering path of Leroy-Gourhan and formalized through the current research of the Evo-Devo on evolutionary innovation theory.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  • Allen, J. S. (2009). The lives of the brain: Human evolution and the organ of mind. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, M. L., & Penner-Wilger, M. (2013). Neural reuse in the evolution and development of the brain: Evidence for developmental Homology? Developmental Psychobiology, 55, 42–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bergson, H. (1896) Matter and Memory (1896) (N. M. Paul & W. Scott Palmer, Trans.). London: George Allen and Unwin (1911).

    Google Scholar 

  • Bergson, H. (1908). Memory of the present and false recognition. In Bergson 1919 (pp. 134–185).

    Google Scholar 

  • Bergson, H. (1911). Life and consciousness. In Bergson 1919 (pp. 3–36).

    Google Scholar 

  • Bergson, H. (1912). The soul and the body. In Bergson 1919 (pp. 37–74).

    Google Scholar 

  • Bergson, H. (1913). “Phantasms of the living” and psychical research. In Bergson 1919 (pp. 75–103).

    Google Scholar 

  • Bergson, H. (1919). Mind-energy: Lectures and essays. Westport: Greenwood Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berwick, R. C., & Chomsky, N. (2016). Why only us. Language and evolution. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Binswanger, L. (1956). Drei Formen Missglückten Dasein. Verlag: Tübingen.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Blankenburg, W. (1971). Der Verlust der naturlichen Selbstverstandlichkeit. Stuttgart: Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bolhuis, J. J., Tattersall, I., Chomsky, N., & Berwick, R. C. (2014). How could language have evolved? PLoS Biology, 12(8).

    Google Scholar 

  • Churchland, P. S. (1979). Scientific realism and the plasticity of mind. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Clowry, G. J. (2014). Seeking clues in brain development to explain the extraordinary evolution of language in humans. Language Sciences, 46, 220–231.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Corballis, M. C. (1993). The Lopsided Ape. Evolution of the generative mind. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dart, R. A. (1959). Adventures with the missing link. New York: Harper.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dehaene, S. (2011). Education as cortical recycling: The case of reading and math. Global Education, 2011-09.

    Google Scholar 

  • Etkin, W. (1954). Social behavior and the evolution of man’s mental faculties. American Naturalist, 129–142.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freeman, W. J. (2000). How brains make up their minds. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • García-Moreno, F., Vasistha, N. A., Trevia, N., Bourne, J. A., & Molnár, Z. (2011). Compartmentalization of cerebral cortical germinal zones in a lissencephalic primate and gyrencephalic rodent. Cerebral Cortex, bhr312.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gazzaniga, M. S. (2008). Human. The science behind what makes us unique. Harper-Collins ebook.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ghazanfar, A. A., & Rendall, D. (2008). Evolution of human vocal production. Current Biology, 18(11), R457–R460.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gould, S. J. (1977). Ontogeny and phylogeny. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gould, S. J., & Lewontin, R. C. (1979). San Marco and the panglossian paradigm: A critique of the adaptationist programme. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B, 205(1161), 581–598.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hewes, G. W. (1961). Food transport and the origin of hominid bipedalism. American Anthropologist, 63(4), 687–710.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hunt, K. D. (1994). The evolution of human bipedality: ecology and functional morphology. Journal of Human Evolution, 26(3), 183–202.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hurford, J. R. (2008). Niche-construction, co-evolution, and domain-specificity. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 31(05), 526–526.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jolly, C. J. (1970). The seed-eaters: A new model for hominoid differentiation based on a baboon analogy. Man, 5, 1–26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirschmann, E. (1999). Das Zeitalter der Werfer—eine neue Sicht des Menschen. Das Schimpansen-Werfer-Aasfresser.

    Google Scholar 

  • LeDoux, J. (2002). Synaptic self: How brains become who we are. New York: Viking Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lerner, R. M. (1984). On the nature of human plasticity. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lieberman, P. (2013). The unpredictable species. What makes humans unique. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lorenz, K. (1959). Psychologie und Stammesgeschichte. In G. Heberer (Ed.), Evolution der Organismen (pp. 131–172). Stuttgart: Fischer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Love, A. C. (2015). Conceptual change in biology. Scientific and philosophical perspectives on evolution and development. Dordecht: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Malabou, C. (1995). The future of Hegel: Plasticity, temporality, and dialectic. New York: Routledge (2005).

    Google Scholar 

  • Malabou, C., & Shread, C. P. T. (2012). Ontology of the accident: An essay on destructive plasticity. Cambridge, UK: Polity.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mayr, E. (1960). The emergence of evolutionary novelties. Evolution after Darwin, 1, 349–380.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mayr, E. (1963). Animal species and evolution. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Minelli, A., & Fusco, G. (2005). Conserved versus innovative features in animal body organization. Journal of Experimental Zoology Part B: Molecular and Developmental Evolution, 304(6), 520–525.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Minkowski, E. (1966). Traité de psychopathologie. Paris: Presses universitaires de France.

    Google Scholar 

  • Minkowski, E. (1997). Au-delà du rationalisme morbide. Paris: Éditions L’Harmattan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Muller, G. B., & Wagner, G. P. (1991). Novelty in evolution: restructuring the concept. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 22, 229–256.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Newman, S. A., & Müller, G. B. (2005). Origination and innovation in the vertebrate limb skeleton: an epigenetic perspective. Journal of Experimental Zoology Part B: Molecular and Developmental Evolution, 304(6), 593–609.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Niemitz, C. (2010). The evolution of the upright posture and gait. A review and a new synthesis. Naturwissenschaften, 97(3), 241–263.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Penfield, W., & Rasmussen, T. (1950). The cerebral cortex of man: A clinical study of localization of function. New York: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pennisi, A. (1998). Psicopatologia del linguaggio: Storia, analisi, filosofie della mente. Roma: Carocci.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pennisi, A. (2001). Langage, action, realité chez H. Bergson. In G. D. & D. Chiricò (Eds.), Henri Bergson: ésprit et langage (pp. 147–161). Liège: Mardaga.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pennisi, A. (2012b). Diete per la mente. Ovvero: come astenersi dalle analogie e combatterne la pervasività per evitare la malattia mentale e la morte della creatività. In D. R. Hofstadter, Sulla coscienza, la creatività e il pensiero analogico, Pennisi & P. Perconti (eds.), Roma-Messina: Corisco, (pp. 113–137).

    Google Scholar 

  • Platek, S. M., & Shackelford, T. K. (2009). Foundations in evolutionary cognitive neuroscience. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Rakic, P. (2009). Evolution of the neocortex: A perspective from developmental biology. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 10(10), 724–735.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rose, M. D. (1976). Bipedal behavior of olive baboons (Papio anubis) and its relevance to an understanding of the evolution of human bipedalism. American journal of physical anthropology, 44(2), 247–261.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rose, M. R., & Lauder, G. V. (1996). Adaptation. San Diego: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Skoyles, J. R., & Sagan, D. (2002). Up from dragons: The evolution of human intelligence. New York: McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Solinas, M. (2015). From Aristotle’s teleology to Darwin’s genealogy: The stamp of inutility. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Wagner, A. (2011). The origins of evolutionary innovations: A theory of transformative change in living systems. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Wagner, G. P. (2014). Homology, genes, and evolutionary innovation. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Washburn, S.L. (1967). Behaviour and the origin of man. Proceedings of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, 1967, 21-27.

    Google Scholar 

  • West-Eberhard, M. (2003). Developmental plasticity and evolution. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wrangham, R. W. (1980). Bipedal locomotion as a feeding adaptation in gelada baboons, and its implications for hominid evolution. Journal of Human Evolution, 9(4), 329–331.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Young, R. W. (2003). Evolution of the human hand: The role of throwing and clubbing. Journal of Anatomy, 202(1), 165–174.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cognitive Science, University of Messina, Messina, Italy

    Antonino Pennisi & Alessandra Falzone

Authors
  1. Antonino Pennisi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Alessandra Falzone
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 Springer International Publishing AG

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Pennisi, A., Falzone, A. (2016). Evolutionary Plasticity. In: Darwinian Biolinguistics . Perspectives in Pragmatics, Philosophy & Psychology, vol 12. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47688-9_13

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47688-9_13

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-47686-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-47688-9

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation