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Interactive Predispositions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

James Tabery
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Abstract

Many cases of gene-environment interaction, or $\mathrm{G}\,\times \mathrm{E}\,$, are misconstrued as evincing a genetic predisposition. I diagnose this misconstrual and then introduce a new concept—interactive predisposition—to correct for the mistake. I conclude by examining how recent debates over screening for individual predispositions are related to older debates about group differences between populations, drawing on the lessons of the latter to inform the former.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 76 , Issue 5 , December 2009 , pp. 876 - 888
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

‡

I am indebted to a number of individuals for valuable feedback on earlier versions of this article: Erik Parens, Lisa Parker, Kenneth Schaffner, and Mark Wicclair. I also benefited from comments made by audience members at the 2008 Philosophy of Science Association's biannual meeting.

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