ABSTRACT
The aim of this chapter is to (a) contribute to a systemic view of biological and social entities, and (b) complement the focus on intergenerational transmission by a view of transmission as a process both between and within systems. Systems are composite entities with their own internal dynamics. In contradistinction to positions of some sociobiologists, we suggest that it is profitable to maintain a multilevel approach with respect to both the organism and its subunits and to societies and their subunits, and that one must also look at multilevel processes. This includes relations between different levels, inheritance, and the regulatory systems that operate at each level.
