Thinking about life : the history and philosophy of biology and other sciences
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Bibliographic Information
Thinking about life : the history and philosophy of biology and other sciences
Springer, c2008
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Includes bibliographical references and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Our previous book, About Life, concerned modern biology. We used our present-day understanding of cells to 'define' the living state, providing a basis for exploring several general-interest topics: the origin of life, extraterrestrial life, intelligence, and the possibility that humans are unique. The ideas we proposed in About Life were intended as starting-points for debate - we did not claim them as 'truth' - but the information on which they were based is currently accepted as 'scientific fact'. What does that mean? What is 'scientific fact' and why is it accepted? What is science - and is biology like other sciences such as physics (except in subject m- ter)? The book you are now reading investigates these questions - and some related ones. Like About Life, it may particularly interest a reader who wishes to change career to biology and its related subdisciplines. In line with a recommendation by the British Association for the Advancement of Science - that the public should be given fuller information about the nature of science - we present the concepts underpinning biology and a survey of its historical and philosophical basis.
Table of Contents
- 1. What is science?
- 2. Culture, knowledge and technology
- 3. Classical roots
- 4. Mediaeval views of the world
- 5. The Scientific Revolution
- 6. The 'Scientific Revolution' in biology
- 7. Aristotle's biology
- 8. How different are organisms from inanimate objects?
- 9. Cell theory and experimental physiology: new ideas in a changing society
- 10. Embryos and entelechy
- 11. Spontaneous generation
- 12. The evolution of Darwinism
- 13. The great heredity debate
- 14. Evolutionary theory attains maturity
- 15. The problem of purpose
- 16. The scientific status of biology
- Appendix: science and philosophy, Philosophies of science and scientific practice, The nature of scientific theories, Theory structure and theory change, Experiments, Models
- Bibliography
- Index of names
- Index of subjects
by "Nielsen BookData"