I am not a biologist. But googling "epigenetics lamarck", I find many different opinions:
- For: Lamarck rises from his grave, Epigenetics: Lamarck’s Revenge?, Darwin’s theory ... is incomplete without input from evolution’s anti-hero: Lamarck;
- Against: One more time: no, epigenetics is not Lamarckism, Why epigenetics is not a vindication of Lamarckism.
This is highly confusing to laypersons such as myself and I'm hoping an expert here can explain to me why there seem to be such vehement disagreements on this matter.
Here's my simplistic layperson understanding of the matter:
- Lamarck: Variations transmitted from parent to child can be influenced by the experiences of the parent.
- Darwin: Lamarck is wrong, variations transmitted from parent to child are purely random and cannot be influenced by the experiences of the parent.
Based on my above simplistic understanding (correct me if I've made any errors), it seems to me that epigenetics suggests that there is at least some element of truth to Lamarckism. Am I mistaken?
