Selected Writings On Self-Organization, Philosophy, Bioethics, and Judaism

by Atlan, Henri; Geroulanos, Stefanos; Meyers, Todd

• ISBN13: 9780823231829
• ISBN10: 0823231828
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-10-28
• Publisher: Fordham University Press

Summary

Henri Atlan, who for the past thirty years has been a major voice in contemporary European philosophical and bio-ethical debates, has published on matters as seemingly distinct as complexity and the theory of self-organization, artificial intelligence, parables from the Hebrew Bible, the faults of the "genetic program" theory in genetics, cloning and the possibility of an artificial uterus, Spinoza, Jewish mysticism, biotechnologies, the figure of the Golem, and the idea of freedom. His contributions to biology and biological thought are marked throughout by a philosophical and humanistic sophistication, rooted in an understanding of and profound commitment to Judaism. His massive oeuvre offers an exceptionally powerful philosophical argumentation that is as hostile to scientism as it is attentive to biology's conceptual and experimental rigor, as careful with concepts of rationality as it is committed to rethinking the human place in a radically determined yet forever changing worldThis is the first volume to bring together the major strands of Atlan's work for an English-language audience. It presents 28 selections, ranging in date from 1972 to 2005 and including the major chapters of Atlan's magnum opus Sparks of Randomness as well as complete translations of Is Science Inhuman? An Essay on Free Necessity (2002) and The End of "Everything-Genetic"? Toward New Paradigms in Biology (1999). Its selections begin with Atlan's pioneering work on self-organization, extend through his extensive writings on Spinoza's philosophy and on Judaism, and conclude with examples of his writings on ethics and especially bio-ethics, a field in which Atlan has extensive practical experience due to his long service on the French National Committee of Ethics for Health and Life Sciences.The book will be essential for teaching in a wide range of disciplines that seek to open conversations between scientific and philosophical positions. It will be an indispensable compendium for those seeking to clarify the joint stakes and shared import of philosophy and science for questions of life and the living.A substantial Introduction by the editors provides the best introduction to Atlan's work in English to date. It carefully traces out and interconnects the various themes that interweave his many writings into a coherent picture of an astonishing intellectual career.

Author Biography

Henri Atlan is Professor Emeritus of Biophysics and Director of Research on Human Biology at Hadassah University Hospital in Jerusalem and Director of Studies at the cole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris. From its inception in 1983, he was for decades a member of the French National Advisory Committee on Ethics in the Life Sciences and Medicine.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. xi
Note on Sources	p. xiii
Introduction to Complexity	p. 1
Is Science Inhuman? An Essay on Free Necessity (2002)	p. 32
Self-Organization
Intentional Self-Organization: Emergence and Reduction, Toward a Physical Theory of Intentionality (1998)	p. 65
Noise as a Principle of Self-Organization (1972/1979)	p. 95
The Intuition of the Complex and Its Theorizations (1991)	p. 114
Organisms, Finalisms, Programs, Machines
The Genetic Program (1999)	p. 145
Underdetermination of Theories by Facts (1991)	p. 172
Internal Purposes, Vitalism, and Complex Systems (1991)	p. 177
Ectogenesis and Reproductive Cloning: Reasons for and Against (2005)	p. 192
Weak Reductionism (1986)	p. 199
Spinoza
The Spinoza Path (2005)	p. 209
Immanent Causality: A Spinozist Viewpoint on Evolution and the Theory of Action (1998)	p. 216
Spinozist Neurophysiology (2007)	p. 237
Knowledge, Glory, and "On Human Dignity" (2007)	p. 243
Judaism, Determinism, and Rationalities
Sparks of Randomness (1999)	p. 253
Nature's Ultimate Trick: The Parable of the Divine Intrigues ('Alilot) (1999)	p. 261
Mysticism and Rationality (1986)	p. 269
Souls and Body in Genesis (1982)	p. 284
Israel in Question (1975)	p. 290
The Self, the Person, the "I" (2004)	p. 312
Fabricating the Living
Golems (1999)	p. 331
The Mother Machine (2005)	p. 342
Human Cloning: Biological Possibilities, Social Impossibilities (1999)	p. 351
Possibility in Development (1991)	p. 366
Ethics
Does Life Exist? (1999)	p. 375
The Knowledge of Ignorance (1991)	p. 384
The Fraternal Utopia (2005)	p. 390
To Teach Virtue (1991)	p. 406
The Center of the Universe and the Domain of Ethics (1991)	p. 411
Pleasure, Pain, and the Levels of Ethics (1995)	p. 417
Bibliography	p. 443
Index	p. 459
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