BEHAVIOR, THE ENGINE OF EVOLUTION: FROM LAMARCK TO PIAGETIAN PHENOCOPY Vladimir Stolzenberg Torres

Abstract

Four theories compete to explain the process of evolution: Lamarckism anchored in Thomist philosophy, Darwinism with natural selection, the Synthetic Theory that locates the structural determinism of living systems in their genetic structure, and Natural Drift that rescues the importance of behavior for the evolutionary process. In this context, the present study seeks to analyze behavior, as a driving force of evolution, in the context of Piagetian phenocopy as something acceptable or not. A more in-depth analysis of the aspects involving such theories, especially the aspects considered by Piaget to characterize phenocopy, as well as records of the behavior of children raised by animals, reveal that Piagetian phenocopy is nothing more than the expression of a biological survival “device” to try to “save” the species, being the result, not of behavioral aspects, but of conditions of extreme stress. Behavior, in this case, represents the stereotypical manifestation of an exogenous disturbance. This article therefore represents a “response” to the book “Evolutionary Behavior” by Jean Piaget and his cognitivist (and not psychological!) theory related to constructivism and the way in which knowledge is constructed.