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Beyond Mechanism
Putting Life Back Into Biology
Authors:
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Publisher:
2013
Summary
It has been said that new discoveries and developments in the human, social, and natural sciences hang “in the air” (Bowler, 1983; 2008) prior to their consummation. While neo-Darwinist biology has been powerfully served by its mechanistic metaphysic and a reductionist methodology in which living organisms are considered machines, many of the chapters in this volume place this paradigm into question. Pairing scientists and philosophers together, this volume explores what might be termed “the New Frontiers” of biology, namely contemporary areas of research that appear to call an updating, a supplementation, or a relaxation of some of the main tenets of the Modern Synthesis. Such areas of investigation include: Emergence Theory, Systems Biology, Biosemiotics, Homeostasis, Symbiogenesis, Niche Construction, the Theory of Organic Selection (also known as “the Baldwin Effect”), Self-Organization and Teleodynamics, as well as Epigenetics. Most of the chapters in this book offer critical reflections on the neo-Darwinist outlook and work to promote a novel synthesis that is open to a greater degree of inclusivity as well as to a more holistic orientation in the biological sciences.
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Bibliographic data
Copyright year
2013
ISBN-Print
978-0-7391-7436-4
ISBN-Online
978-0-7391-7437-1
Publisher
Lexington, Lanham
Language
English
Pages
477
Product type
Book Titles
Table of contents
ChapterPages
Contents No access
Foreword: Evolution beyond Newton, Darwin, and Entailing Law No access Pages 1 - 24
Introduction: On a “Life-Blind Spot” in Neo-Darwinism’s Mechanistic Metaphysical Lens No access Pages 25 - 64
1 Complex Systems Dynamics in Evolution and Emergent Processes No access
2 Why Emergence Matters No access
3 On the Incompatibility of the Neo-Darwinian Hypothesis With Systems-Theoretical Explanations of Biological Development No access
4 Process-First Ontology No access
5 Ordinal Pluralism as Metaphysics for Biology No access
6 Why Do We Need a Semiotic Understanding of Life? No access
7 The Irreducibility of Life to Mentality: Biosemiotics or Emergence? No access
8 Biology’s Second Law: Homeostasis, Purpose and Desire No access
9 “Wind at Life’s Back”—Toward a Naturalistic, Whiteheadian Teleology: Symbiogenesis and the Second Law No access
10 Of Termites and Men: On the Ontology of Collective Individuals No access
11 The Baldwin Effect in an Extended Evolutionary Synthesis No access
12 On the Ramifications of the Theory of Organic Selection for Environmental and Evolutionary Ethics No access
13 Teleology versus Mechanism in Biology: Beyond Self-Organization No access
14 Teleodynamics: A Neo-Naturalistic Conception of Organismic Teleology No access
15 Epigenesis, Epigenetics, and the Epigenotype: Toward An Inclusive Concept of Development and Evolution No access
16 Epigenetics, Soft Inheritance, Mechanistic Metaphysics, and Bioethics No access
17 From Organicism to Mechanism—and Halfway Back? No access
18 Machines and Organisms: The Rise and Fall of a Conflict No access
