Rupert Sheldrake

Rupert Sheldrake in ‘A New Science of Life: The Hypothesis of Morphic Resonance’ states that “The morphogenetic fields of all past systems become present to any subsequent similar system: the structures of past systems affect subsequent similar systems by a cumulative effect which acts across both time and space.” He qualifies his thesis by stating that this morphic resonance, for the sake of simplicity, takes place only from the past, and then uses his thesis to explain a large number of problems otherwise unanswered by current beliefs in the biological sciences, such as memory and the inheritance of form and inheritance. He proposed that various perceived phenomena, particularly biological ones, become more probable the more often they occur and that biological growth and behaviour thus becomes guided into patterns laid down by previous similar events. As a result, newly-acquired behaviours can be passed down the generations. It is a biological proposition akin to the Lamarckian inheritance theory.