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acquired character
(redirected from Acquired characteristics)

   Also found in: Medical, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia 0.01 sec.
acquired character
n.
A nonhereditary change of function or structure in a plant or animal made in response to the environment. Also called acquired characteristic.


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The process of racial uplift or racial degeneration made sense only because of a kind of neo-Lamarckianism that posited that acquired characteristics could in one way or another be passed on to future generations.
Darwinian evolution, however, does not--indeed, it cannot--transmit acquired characteristics to future generations.
This may seem far-fetched, but consider that, just as the Soviet Union relied on an incorrect model of the economy, it also relied on an incorrect theory of biology: the discredited theory that acquired characteristics could be inherited.
 
 
 
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