Toward a New Philosophy of Biology

Toward a New Philosophy of Biology PDF Author: Ernst Mayr
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674896666
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 582

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Book Description
A collection of twenty-eight essays, five previously unpublished, grouped into nine categories: Philosophy, Natural Selection, Adaptation, Darwin, Diversity, Species, Speciation, Macroevolution, and Historical Perspective. The book, Ernst Mayr notes in the Foreword, is an attempt "to strengthen the bridge between biology and philosophy, and point to the new direction in which a new philosophy of biology will move."

Above the Gene, Beyond Biology

Above the Gene, Beyond Biology PDF Author: Jan Baedke
Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
ISBN: 0822983400
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 259

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Book Description
Epigenetics is currently one of the fastest-growing fields in the sciences. Epigenetic information not only controls DNA expression but links genetic factors with the environmental experiences that influence the traits and characteristics of an individual. What we eat, where we work, and how we live affects not only the activity of our genes but that of our offspring as well. This discovery has imposed a revolutionary theoretical shift on modern biology, especially on evolutionary theory. It has helped to uncover the developmental processes leading to cancer, obesity, schizophrenia, alcoholism, and aging, and to facilitate associated medial applications such as stem cell therapy and cloning. Above the Gene, Beyond Biology explores how biologists in this booming field investigate and explain living systems. Jan Baedke offers the first comprehensive philosophical discussion of epigenetic concepts, explanations, and methodologies so that we can better understand this “epigenetic turn” in the life sciences from a philosophical perspective.

Everything Flows

Everything Flows PDF Author: Daniel J. Nicholson
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198779631
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 403

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Book Description
"The majority of the papers herein originated at the workshop 'Process Philosophy of Biology' ... held in Exeter in November 2014."--Page vii.

Philosophy of Biology Before Biology

Philosophy of Biology Before Biology PDF Author: Cécilia Bognon-Küss
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317227557
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 372

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Book Description
The use of the term "biology" to refer to a unified science of life emerged around 1800 (most prominently by scientists such as Lamarck and Treviranus, although scholarship has indicated its usage at least 30-40 years earlier). The interplay between philosophy and natural science has also accompanied the constitution of biology as a science. Philosophy of Biology Before Biology examines biological and protobiological writings from the mid-eighteenth century to the early nineteenth century (from Buffon to Cuvier; Kant to Oken; and Kielmeyer) with two major sets of questions in mind: What were the distinctive conceptual features of the move toward biology as a science? What were the relations and differences between the "philosophical" focus on the nature of living entities, and the "scientific" focus? This insightful volume produces a fresh but also systematic perspective both on the history of biology as a science and on the early versions of, in the 1960s in a post-positivist context, the philosophy of biology. It will appeal to students and researchers interested in fields such as history of science, philosophy of science and biology.

This Is Biology

This Is Biology PDF Author: Ernst Mayr
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674884694
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 356

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Book Description
"(A) lively book . . . on how biologists study living things. . . . Its range is enormous. . . . This is an old-fashioned book, to be read slowly, more than once, and to be thought about afterward".--Ann Finkbeiner, "The New York Times Book Review". Chart.

Evolution and the Diversity of Life

Evolution and the Diversity of Life PDF Author: Ernst Mayr
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674271050
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 742

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Book Description
The diversity of living forms and the unity of evolutionary processes are the focus of these essays. The collection helps form much of the basis of contempoary undertanding of evolutionary biology.

Emergence

Emergence PDF Author: Mariusz Tabaczek
Publisher: University of Notre Dame Pess
ISBN: 0268105006
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 531

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Book Description
Over the last several decades, the theories of emergence and downward causation have become arguably the most popular conceptual tools in scientific and philosophical attempts to explain the nature and character of global organization observed in various biological phenomena, from individual cell organization to ecological systems. The theory of emergence acknowledges the reality of layered strata or levels of systems, which are consequences of the appearance of an interacting range of novel qualities. A closer analysis of emergentism, however, reveals a number of philosophical problems facing this theory. In Emergence, Mariusz Tabaczek offers a thorough analysis of these problems and a constructive proposal of a new metaphysical foundation for both the classic downward causation-based and the new dynamical depth accounts of emergence theory, developed by Terrence Deacon. Tabaczek suggests ways in which both theoretical models of emergentism can be grounded in the classical and the new (dispositionalist) versions of Aristotelianism. This book will have an eager audience in metaphysicians working both in the analytic and the Thomistic traditions, as well as philosophers of science and biology interested in emergence theory and causation.

Evolution As Entropy

Evolution As Entropy PDF Author: Daniel R. Brooks
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 9780226075747
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 438

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Book Description
This second edition in just two years offers a considerably revised second chapter, in which information behavior replaces analogies to purely physical systems, as well as practical applications of the authors' theory. Attention is also given to a hierarchical theory of ecosystem behavior, taking note of constraints on local ecosystem members resul.

The Phenomenon of Life

The Phenomenon of Life PDF Author: Hans Jonas
Publisher: Northwestern University Press
ISBN: 9780810117495
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
One of the most prominent thinkers of his generation, Hans Jonas wrote on topics as diverse as the philosophy of biology, ethics and cosmology. This work sets forth a systematic philosophy of biological facts, laid out in support of his claim that mind is prefigured throughout organic existence.

The Philosophy of Biology

The Philosophy of Biology PDF Author: Kostas Kampourakis
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9400765371
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 765

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Book Description
This book brings together for the first time philosophers of biology to write about some of the most central concepts and issues in their field from the perspective of biology education. The chapters of the book cover a variety of topics ranging from traditional ones, such as biological explanation, biology and religion or biology and ethics, to contemporary ones, such as genomics, systems biology or evolutionary developmental biology. Each of the 30 chapters covers the respective philosophical literature in detail and makes specific suggestions for biology education. The aim of this book is to inform biology educators, undergraduate and graduate students in biology and related fields, students in teacher training programs, and curriculum developers about the current state of discussion on the major topics in the philosophy of biology and its implications for teaching biology. In addition, the book can be valuable to philosophers of biology as an introductory text in undergraduate and graduate courses.