Genes and the Agents of Life: The Individual

Genes and the Agents of Life undertakes to rethink the place of the individual in the biological sciences, drawing parallels with the cognitive and social sciences. Genes, organisms, and species are all agents of life but how are each of these conceptualized within genetics, developmental biology, evolutionary biology, and systematics? The book includes highly accessible discussions of genetic encoding, species and natural kinds, and pluralism above the levels of selection, drawing on work from across the biological sciences. The book is a companion to the author's Boundaries of the Mind, also available from Cambridge, where the focus is the cognitive sciences. The book will appeal to a broad range of professionals and students in philosophy, biology, and the history of science.

Robert A. Wilson was born in Broken Hill, Australia, and lives in Edmonton, Canada. He is the author or editor of five other books

List of Tables and Figures

xii

Acknowledgments

xiii

PART ONE INDIVIDUALS, AGENCY, AND BIOLOGY

1 Individuals and Biology

3

(20)

1 Individuals and the Living World

3

(1)

2 Life and Mind

4

(2)

3 Agents: Biological, Living, and Other

6

(3)

4 Species and Natural Kinds: The Aristotelian Shadow

9

(2)

5 Pluralism, Realism, and Science

11

(3)

6 Within the Evolutionary Hierarchy: Genes, Organisms, Groups

14

(3)

7 Biology and the Fragile Sciences

17

(4)

8 A Path Through Genes and the Agents of Life

21

(2)

2 Thinking about Biological Agents

23

(24)

1 Tools of the Trade

23

(1)

2 Three Forms of Individualism in Biology

24

(6)

3 Taxonomy and Taxonomic Practices

30

(1)

4 The Art of Hierarchical Thinking in Biology

31

(2)

5 Methodology and Metaphysics

33

(2)

6 Properties, Realization, and Determination

35

(3)

7 Smallism and Biology

38

(3)

8 The Cognitive Metaphor

41

(6)

PART TWO SPECIES, ORGANISMS, AND BIOLOGICAL NATURAL KINDS

3 What Is an Organism?

47

(23)

1 The Familiar and Puzzling World of Organisms

47

(3)

2 Organisms and Life: The Simple View

50

(1)

3 Problems for the Simple View

51

(2)

4 Natural Kinds, Essentialism, and Scientific Realism

53

(2)

5 Natural Kinds as Homeostatic Property Clusters: Living Agents

55

(4)

6 The Tripartite View of Organisms

59

(1)

7 Life Cycles

59

(3)

8 Autonomy

62

(3)

9 Two Precursors: Herbert Spencer and Julian Huxley

65

(5)

4 Exploring the Tripartite View

70

(26)

1 Realism and Agency

70

(4)

2 A Role for the Cognitive Metaphor

74

(2)

3 The Crystallization Thesis and Nonbiological Agents

76

(3)

4 Capturing Organismal Diversity

79

(5)

5 Corporate Organisms 8o

6 The Priority of Organisms and the Early History of Life

84

(7)

7 Artificial and Natural Life

91

(3)

8 The Restoration of the Organism

94

(2)

5 Specious Individuals

96

(25)

1 Species and the Linnaean Hierarchy

96

(2)

2 Realism, Pluralism, and Individuality

98

(1)

3 Individuality and Species Taxa

99

(2)

4 Pluralism and the Species Category

101

(2)

5 Between Traditional Realism, Individuality, and Pluralism: The Case of Neural Taxonomy

103

(4)

6 Homeostatic Property Clusters and the Revival of Essentialism

107

(6)

7 The Individuality Thesis Reconsidered

113

(2)

8 Pluralism Reconsidered

115

(2)

9 Realism, Essence, and Kind

117

(4)

PART THREE GENES AND ORGANISMIC DEVELOPMENT

6 Genetic Agency

121

(17)

1 Genes and Genetic Agency

121

(1)

2 The Concept of the Gene

122

(4)

3 The Selfish Gene and the Cognitive Metaphor

126

(2)

4 The Extended Phenotype and Wide Systems

128

(5)

5 Genetic Programs, Codes, and Blueprints

133

(5)

7 Conceptualizing Development

138

(29)

1 Genes, Development, and Individualism

138

(3)

2 Individualism within Developmental Genetics

141

(2)

3 A Closer Look at the Case of Hox Genes

143

(5)

4 Developmental Systems Theory: From Critique to Vision

148

(3)

5 Developmental Systems and Locational Externalism

151

(1)

6 Resources and Systems: Some Conceptual Tightening

152

(3)

7 Resource Sharing and Life's Complications

155

(2)

8 The Smallist Embrace

157

(2)

9 Extending Physiology, Niche Construction, and Inheritance

159

(8)

PART FOUR GROUPS AND NATURAL SELECTION

8 Groups as Agents of Selection

167

(27)

1 Darwin's Legacy

167

(3)

2 Organisms as Agents of Selection

170

(2)

3 Genes and Groups as Agents of Selection: A Historical Sketch

172

(5)

4 The Problem of Altruism

177

(2)

5 Altruism Beyond the Standard Darwinian View

179

(3)

6 Articulating Group Selection

182

(1)

7 The Arbitrariness and Ephemerality Problems

183

(1)

8 Trait Groups and Superorganisms

184

(5)

9 Species and Clade Selection

189

(5)

9 Arguing about Group Selection: The Myxoma Case

194

(24)

1 Group Selection in the Wild

194

(1)

2 Test Cases and Resolvability

195

(2)

3 The Case of the Myxoma Virus: A Sketch and Two Interpretations

197

(2)

4 The State of Things: Averaging and the Status of Groups

199

(4)

5 A Little More on the Virology and Epidemiology of Myxomatosis

203

(4)

6 Why Further Details Reinforce the Irresolvability Claim

207

(5)

7 Decisiveness, Viewpoints, and Agency

212

(3)

8 How Deep Does Irresolvability Reach?

215

(3)

10 Pluralism, Entwinement, and the Agents of Selection

218

(25)

1 The Pluralistic Tenor of the Times

218

(1)

2 Two Kinds of Pluralism about the Levels of Selection

219

(3)

3 A Closer Look at Model Pluralism

222

(3)

4 Representation, Translation, and Levels

225

(6)

5 Entwined Levels of Selection

231

(6)

6 Levels, Entwinement, and the Metaphysics of Science

237

(2)

7 The Lure of Smallism and the Cognitive Metaphor

239

(2)

8 Beyond Metaphor's Grasp

241

(2)

Notes

243

(26)

References

269

(16)

Index

285

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Genes and the Agents of Life: The Individual in the Fragile Sciences Biology

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials