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 sub-units, 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.
