Webster S. Thinking about biology. - Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003. - xi, 235 p. - Ref.: p.4. - Ind.: p.229-235. - ISBN 978-0-521-59954-2  Выставка : «Cambridge University Press - для науки и образования Сибири» Место хранения:   02 | Отделение ГПНТБ СО РАН | Новосибирск

Оглавление / Contents

Acknowledgments ............................................. xi Introduction ................................................. l 1 Facts? ....................................................... 5 The problem with cannabis .................................... 5 The making of the cell theory ................................ 9 The edge of the amoeba ...................................... 19 How cells evolved ........................................... 24 The philosophy of science ................................... 31 2 Reductionism ................................................ 38 An introduction ............................................. 38 Examples of reductionist research ........................... 42 The two faces of reductionism ............................... 44 The general problem of scientific explanation ............... 47 Explanation through causation ............................... 50 Metaphysics and biology ..................................... 52 A review of terminology ..................................... 54 Anti-reductionist biology today ............................. 58 A case study: phenylketonuria (PKU) ......................... 61 In conclusion: the problem of determinism ................... 64 3 Evolution ................................................... 67 A philosophical introduction ................................ 67 The work of Charles Darwin .................................. 69 The question of time ........................................ 73 The case of Jacques Deprat .................................. 77 The myth of the coelacanth .................................. 81 Life and the illusion of progress ........................... 85 Proximate and ultimate causes in biology .................... 89 The concept of adaptation - and its teleology ............... 91 The scope of natural selection 95 The 'unit' of natural selection .................................................. 106 The Darwin wars ............................................ 107 4 Biology and animals ........................................ 109 Ethics in science: an introduction ......................... 109 Interventions: an introduction ............................. 114 Vivisection and dissection ................................. 116 Animal minds, human morals and the study of ethics ......... 121 In conclusion .............................................. 137 5 Controversies in biology ................................... 140 Controversies in biology - and in the media ................ 140 The crisis of 'mad cow disease' ............................ 142 Genetically modified crops ................................. 150 Xenotransplantation ........................................ 156 6 Making sense of genes ...................................... 163 An introduction to the Human Genome Project ................ 163 The philosophy of the Human Genome Project ................. 166 The history of the Human Genome Project .................... 170 Genetic testing: the case of Huntington's disease .......... 172 Testing for the 'gene' for breast cancer ................... 175 The future of the Human Genome Project ..................... 178 The commercialisation of the genome ........................ 180 Gene testing and the doctor-patient relationship ........... 182 7 Biology and politics ....................................... 187 How politics enters biology ................................ 187 The politics of Darwin ..................................... 191 Eugenics: the genetic improvement of people ................ 193 Measuring intelligence ..................................... 196 Eugenics and genetics ...................................... 198 Biology and the Nazis ...................................... 202 The world view from evolutionary psychology ................ 206 8 Research ethics ............................................ 210 A conflict of interest ..................................... 210 A code of conduct .......................................... 212 Peer review ................................................ 216 A historical overview ...................................... 218 Theories of ethics ......................................... 224 Index ......................................................... 229