The Dependent Gene

The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia's notability guideline for books. Please help to demonstrate the notability of the topic by citing reliable secondary sources that are independent of the topic and provide significant coverage of it beyond a mere trivial mention. If notability cannot be shown, the article is likely to be merged, redirected, or deleted. Find sources: "The Dependent Gene" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (September 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The Dependent Gene: The Fallacy of "Nature vs. Nurture"

Author	David S. Moore
Language	English
Subject	Developmental systems theory Genetic determinism
Genre	Nonfiction
Publisher	Times Books Henry Holt & Company
Publication date	2002
Pages	320
ISBN	978-0-7167-4024-7

The Dependent Gene: The Fallacy of "Nature vs. Nurture" is a book by developmental psychologist David S. Moore, originally published in 2002 by Times Books and Henry Holt & Company. The book is highly critical of genetic determinism and the nature-nurture debate, emphasizing that gene action is highly dependent on social and biological factors in the organism's environment. In doing so, it draws on developmental systems theory to present an interactionist approach to the science of genetics.^[1] Among the examples Moore cites in the book is that of phenylketonuria (PKU), which is caused by a mutation in a single gene, but can easily be treated through dietary intervention. He argues that PKU, like all traits, is both genetic and environmental in origin.^[2] He also critiques the fundamental concept of a discrete "gene", arguing that the function-based boundaries that are claimed to separate genes from one another have changed over time.^[3]