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acquired character
(redirected from Acquired characteristics)

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acquired character

Feature of the body that develops during the lifetime of an individual, usually as a result of repeated use or disuse, such as the enlarged muscles of a weightlifter.

French naturalist Jean Baptiste Lamarck's theory of evolution assumed that acquired characters were passed from parent to offspring. Modern evolutionary theory does not recognize the inheritance of acquired characters because there is no reliable scientific evidence that it occurs, and because no mechanism is known whereby bodily changes can influence the genetic material. The belief that this does not occur is known as central dogma.



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? Mentioned in ? References in periodicals archive
 
He performed blood-transfusion experiments on rabbits, which undermined Darwin's effort to build upon Jean-Baptiste Lamarck's suggestion that acquired characteristics can be inherited.
The first eugenicist: was Francis Galton wrong to want to improve the ... by Silber, Kenneth / Reason
21) and what seems to be a sort of Lamarckian view on the author's part on the inheritance of acquired characteristics (p.
The Curse of Ham. Race and Slavery in Early Judaism, Christianity, ... by Miller, Dean A. / Journal of Social History
These targets were based on socialist theory created by Stalin's favorite geneticist, Lysenko, who had caused a sensation (and much Western incredulity) by claiming that environmentally acquired characteristics would be inherited by the next generation.
Totalitarianism: Have We Seen the Last of It? by Minogue, Kenneth / The National Interest
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