Myths and Genes
Martha and I had a good conversation about the possibility that Lamarck might have been right (that characteristics we pick up during our lives can get encoded into our DNA and passed on to our offspring). Remember, this is important for Freud’s take on the Oedipus myth: that it’s an expression not just of a psychological pattern, but an actual historical trauma in our shared past. There’s plenty more to say here, but perhaps this BBC documentary would be a good way to get back into it:
April 19, 2014 @ 12:46 am
On that topic, if you guys aren’t fans of Radiolab yet, now is the time. Stick the following in your ears next time you have a need to stare into space: http://www.radiolab.org/story/251876-inheritance/
April 19, 2014 @ 1:10 am
However, Freud is starting with one data set (narratives of dreams culled from well to do Viennese men in the early 20th century, who were experiencing serious psychological problems), imposing a particular interpretation of the recurring dream imagery, universalizing it and then postulating a completely hypothetical trauma in the past. This does not qualify as scientific in my book, whether or not his view of heredity, regarded as more or less discredited by the scientific community, might since have been to some extent vindicated.