The Baldwin Effect and the persistent problem of Preformation versus Epigenesis

Despite the relatively recent ascendency of epigenetics as a subfield in biology, the issues at its heart have a much longer past. Similarly, psychology's part in this discussion is not new. This article examines one of the earliest engagements of a psychologist with what is now known as epigenetics. Briefly: in 1896, American developmental psychologist James Mark Baldwin proposed an evolutionary theory that has come to be known as the “Baldwin Effect” (so coined by Simpson, 1953). Baldwin's theory asserts that learning may set the course of biological evolution in a non-Lamarckian manner. In proposing this theory he provided a needed intermediate to Darwinian natural selection and the Lamarckian inheritance of acquired characteristics. The value of detailing how Baldwin came to put forward this theory, in light of recent advances, is that it illuminates some of the persistent arguments in the Preformation versus Epigenesis debate. Insofar as these debates continue, examining the origins of the Baldwin Effect provides useful insights.