Genes are instructions for building embryos. In large part, an embryo looks and acts the way it does because of its genetic programming. The observable effects of a gene in nature are its “phenotypic effects.” People can’t see genes, but they can see phenotypic effects. Richard Dawkins thinks that the phenotypic effects of a gene are not limited to the embryo they build, but to the environment at large. In this view, any aspect of an environment that affects the chance of a gene’s survival is a phenotypic effect. For instance, Dawkins thinks that beaver dams, snail shells, and sneezing from a cold virus are all phenotypic effects. He uses this argument to dismantle the notion of an individual organism as something discrete and separate from other things in nature.
Phenotypic Effect Quotes in The Selfish Gene
The The Selfish Gene quotes below are all either spoken by Phenotypic Effect or refer to Phenotypic Effect. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 13
Quotes
With only a little imagination we can see the gene as sitting at the center of a radiating web of extended phenotypic power. An object in the world is the centre of a converging web of influences from many genes sitting in many organisms. The long reach of the gene knows no obvious boundaries. The whole world is criss-crossed with causal arrows joining genes to phenotypic effects, far and near.
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The only kind of entity that has to exist in order for life to arise, anywhere in the universe, is the immortal replicator.
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Phenotypic Effect Term Timeline in The Selfish Gene
The timeline below shows where the term Phenotypic Effect appears in The Selfish Gene. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 13: The Long Reach of the Gene
...by their effects on the embryos they build. These visible “effects” are called phenotypes. The phenotypic effect of one gene might be “green eyes,” or “curly hair,” for example. Natural selection favors...
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Dawkins wonders what happens when a gene has a phenotypic effect that’s good for the gene, but bad for the body as a whole. In other...
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...on. But Dawkins believes that, when one thinks about it, there’s no reason to limit phenotypic effects to a particular individual. In fact, “the phenotypic effects of a gene need to be...
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...geneticist were to compare the structures of caddis houses, they would be looking at the phenotypic effects of caddis larvae genes. It makes as much sense to think of genes for “stone...
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...be saved for sustenance and reproduction). Dawkins thinks this means the fluke’s genes have a phenotypic effect on the snail’s shell. He thinks this happens with a lot of parasites, and it...
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According to Dawkins, phenotypic effects can extend as far as across entire lakes (for example, in beaver dams), and that...
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...sense to talk about individuals and others. One should only be talking about genes and phenotypic effects . His central claim about extended phenotypes is that “an animal’s behavior tends to maximize...
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...replicators came first. He suggests that one way to do this is to remember that phenotypic effects of a gene are not limited to the body it lives in.
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...influences from many genes sitting in many organisms. The world is “criss-crossed” with arrows joining phenotypic effects to genes. Dawkins concludes that replicators are no longer peppered freely around the universe. They...
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Epilogue to 40th Anniversary Edition
...this “something” can’t be organisms, because they don’t become numerous: each organism is unique. The phenotypic effects of genes determine how numerous they become. Successful genes exist in many bodies over time....
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