Ludzki genom – u źródeł deterministycznej mitologii
The Human Genome – Source of Deterministic Mythology

Summary/Abstract: The article critiques genetic determinism in the context of research on humans. In the light of modern biology, all the phenotypic characteristics of organisms are the result of interactions between genetic and environmental information. Structural genes only determine the sequence of amino acids in a protein, without specifying its physical structure. This means that the metaphor of DNA as ‘particles of life’ is misguided, and the genotype is not an algorithm by which the body is constructed. Press reports about the discovery of an ‘obesity gene’ or ‘alcoholism gene’ may give rise to the belief that if not for these genes, such problems would not exist. This article shows why this is not the case.

• Details
• Contents