Elements in the Philosophy of Biology – serie
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77 produkter
Evolution and Development
Conceptual Issues
Av Alan C. Love
Häftad, 2024
308 kr
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The intersection of development and evolution has always harbored conceptual issues, but many of these are on display in contemporary evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo). These issues include: (1) the precise constitution of evo-devo, with its focus on both the evolution of development …
Slime Mould and Philosophy
Av Matthew Sims
Häftad, 2025
282 kr
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Physarum polycephalum, also known more colloquially as 'the blob', 'acellular slime mould', or just 'slime mould', is a unicellular multinucleate protist that has continued to attract the interest of biologists over the past century because of its complex life cycle, unique physiology, morphology, …
The Missing Two-Thirds of Evolutionary Theory
Av Robert N. Brandon, Daniel W. McShea
Häftad, 2020
282 kr
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In this Element, we extend our earlier treatment of biology's first law. The law says that in any evolutionary system in which there is variation and heredity, there is a tendency for diversity and complexity to increase. The law plays the same role in biology that Newton's first law plays in …
Social Darwinism
Av Jeffrey O'Connell, Michael Ruse
Häftad, 2021
302 kr
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This Element is a philosophical history of Social Darwinism. It begins by discussing the meaning of the term, moving then to its origins, paying particular attention to whether it is Charles Darwin or Herbert Spencer who is the true father of the idea. It gives an exposition of early thinking on …
Reduction and Mechanism
Häftad, 2020
302 kr
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Reductionism is a widely endorsed methodology among biologists, a metaphysical theory advanced to vindicate the biologist's methodology, and an epistemic thesis those opposed to reductionism have been eager to refute. While the methodology has gone from strength to strength in its history of …
The Metaphysics of Biology
Häftad, 2021
308 kr
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This Element is an introduction to the metaphysics of biology, a very general account of the nature of the living world. The first part of the Element addresses more traditionally philosophical questions - whether biological systems are reducible to the properties of their physical parts, causation …
Inclusive Fitness and Kin Selection
Av Hannah Rubin
Häftad, 2024
308 kr
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The biological world is full of phenomena that seem to run counter to Darwin's insight that natural selection can lead to the appearance of design. For instance, why do organisms in some species divide reproductive labor? The existence of non-reproducing organisms in such 'eusocial' species looks …
Animal Models of Human Disease
Av Sara Green
Häftad, 2024
302 kr
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The crucial role of animal models in biomedical research calls for philosophical investigation of how and whether knowledge about human diseases can be gained by studying other species. This Element delves into the selection and construction of animal models to serve as preclinical substitutes for …
Hylomorphism
Häftad, 2023
406 kr
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This Element introduces Aristotle's doctrine of hylomorphism, which provides an account of substances in terms of their 'matter' and 'form', adapting and applying it to the interface between physics and biology. It begins by indicating some reasons for the current revival of hylomorphism and by …
Structure and Function
Av Rose Novick
Häftad, 2023
406 kr
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The history of biology is mottled with disputes between two distinct approaches to the organic world: structuralism and functionalism. Their persistence across radical theory change makes them difficult to characterize: the characterization must be abstract enough to capture biologists with diverse …
Facts, Conventions, and the Levels of Selection
Inbunden, 2021
911 kr
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Debates concerning the units and levels of selection have persisted for over fifty years. One major question in this literature is whether units and levels of selection are genuine, in the sense that they are objective features of the world, or merely reflect the interests and goals of an observer. …
The Causal Structure of Natural Selection
Inbunden, 2021
911 kr
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Recent arguments concerning the nature of causation in evolutionary theory, now often known as the debate between the 'causalist' and 'statisticalist' positions, have involved answers to a variety of independent questions - definitions of key evolutionary concepts like natural selection, fitness, …
What Is Life? Revisited
Häftad, 2025
308 kr
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Erwin Schrödinger's What Is Life? is one of the most celebrated scientific works of the twentieth century. However, like most classics, it is far more often cited than read. Efforts to seriously engage with Schrödinger's arguments are rare. This Element explores how well his ideas have stood the …
The Scope of Evolutionary Thinking
Häftad, 2025
276 kr
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Evolutionary theory has found its way into a staggeringly large diversity of fields outside the biological sciences. This Element examines how crossovers of evolutionary theory from biology into other fields occur, and in what ways such fields can be meaningfully considered evolutionary fields of …
Philosophy of Developmental Biology
Av Marcel Weber
Inbunden, 2022
911 kr
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The history of developmental biology is interwoven with debates as to whether mechanistic explanations of development are possible or whether alternative explanatory principles or even vital forces need to be assumed. In particular, the demonstrated ability of embryonic cells to tune their …
Evolution, Morality and the Fabric of Society
Inbunden, 2022
911 kr
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Recent interest in the evolution of the social contract is extended by providing a throughly naturalistic, evolutionary account of the biological underpinnings of a social contract theory of morality. This social contract theory of morality (contractevolism) provides an evolutionary justification …
Units of Selection
Av Javier Suárez, Elisabeth A. Lloyd
Häftad, 2023
406 kr
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This Element introduces the Disambiguating Project (DP) about the units of selection. By DP, the authors mean the thesis that the expression 'units of selection' refers to at least three non-co-extensional functional concepts: interactor, replicator/reproducer/reconstitutor, and manifestor of …
Explanation in Biology
Häftad, 2025
308 kr
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This Element examines philosophical accounts of scientific explanation, particularly those that apply to biology and the life sciences. Two main categories of scientific explanation are examined in detail -causal explanations and non-causal explanations. The first section of this Element provides a …
Controlled Experiments
Häftad, 2025
282 kr
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Control is a key ingredient of scientific experimentation; arguably, an uncontrolled intervention or manipulation is not even a genuine experiment. Experiments in the life sciences, however, are notoriously difficult to control due to the complexity and variability of living things. This Element …
Philosophy of Physiology
Häftad, 2025
308 kr
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Time is ripe to complement the question 'what is health and disease?' in philosophy of medicine with a 'philosophy of physiology.' Indeed, the actors in this debate share the conviction that a 'foundational' concept dictates to this scientific field what is to be considered healthy or pathological …
Structure and Function
Av Rose Novick
Inbunden, 2023
1084 kr
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The history of biology is mottled with disputes between two distinct approaches to the organic world: structuralism and functionalism. Their persistence across radical theory change makes them difficult to characterize: the characterization must be abstract enough to capture biologists with diverse …
Biological Individuality
Inbunden, 2023
1202 kr
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This Element develops a view about biological individuality's value in two ways: while biological individuality matters for its theoretical and methodological roles in the production of scientific knowledge, its historical use in promoting the politics of social ideologies concerning progress and …
Biological Organization
Häftad, 2025
308 kr
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Living systems are complex systems made of components that tend to degrade, but nonetheless they maintain themselves far from equilibrium. This requires living systems to extract energy and materials from the environment and use them to build and repair their parts by regulating their activities …
Hylomorphism
Inbunden, 2023
1202 kr
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This Element introduces Aristotle's doctrine of hylomorphism, which provides an account of substances in terms of their 'matter' and 'form', adapting and applying it to the interface between physics and biology. It begins by indicating some reasons for the current revival of hylomorphism and by …
Human Nature
Av Grant Ramsey
Inbunden, 2023
1202 kr
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Human nature is frequently evoked to characterize our species and describe how it differs from others. But how should we understand this concept? What is the nature of a species? Some take our nature to be an essence and argue that because humans lack an essence, they also lack a nature. Others …
Units of Selection
Av Javier Suárez, Elisabeth A. Lloyd
Inbunden, 2023
1202 kr
Lägg i varukorg
This Element introduces the Disambiguating Project (DP) about the units of selection. By DP, the authors mean the thesis that the expression 'units of selection' refers to at least three non-co-extensional functional concepts: interactor, replicator/reproducer/reconstitutor, and manifestor of …
Modelling Evolution
Av Walter Veit
Häftad, 2025
308 kr
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This Element discusses the central role of models within evolutionary biology, offering an accessible introduction and synthesis of literature in both evolutionary biology and the philosophy of models. We will examine three questions: first, what does it mean to be a 'model' and to engage in …
Modelling Evolution
Av Walter Veit
Inbunden, 2025
892 kr
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This Element discusses the central role of models within evolutionary biology, offering an accessible introduction and synthesis of literature in both evolutionary biology and the philosophy of models. We will examine three questions: first, what does it mean to be a 'model' and to engage in …
Inclusive Fitness and Kin Selection
Av Hannah Rubin
Inbunden, 2024
911 kr
Lägg i varukorg
The biological world is full of phenomena that seem to run counter to Darwin's insight that natural selection can lead to the appearance of design. For instance, why do organisms in some species divide reproductive labor? The existence of non-reproducing organisms in such 'eusocial' species looks …
Evolution and Development
Conceptual Issues
Av Alan C. Love
Inbunden, 2024
911 kr
Lägg i varukorg
The intersection of development and evolution has always harbored conceptual issues, but many of these are on display in contemporary evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo). These issues include: (1) the precise constitution of evo-devo, with its focus on both the evolution of development …
