Towards a Theory of Development

by Minelli, Alessandro; Pradeu, Thomas

• ISBN13: 9780199671434
• ISBN10: 0199671435
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2014-07-08
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Author Biography

Alessandro Minelli, Professor of Zoology - retired, University of Padova,Thomas Pradeu, Associate Professor in Philosophy of Science, Paris-Sorbonne University

Alessandro Minelli was Professor of Zoology at the University of Padova, Italy, until his retirement in 2011. Following long years of research in biological systematics and phylogenetics, he later moved the focus of his activity towards evolutionary developmental biology. Founding member and former vice-president of the European Society of Evolutionary Biology, Minelli is member of the editorial board of Evolution & Development, Theory in Biosciences and Frontiers in Zoology.

Thomas Pradeu is Associate Professor in Philosophy of Science at Paris-Sorbonne University. Trained in both philosophy and biology, he is particularly interested in conceptual and theoretical issues of immunology and developmental biology. His research has been published in scientific and philosophical journals, including Biological Theory, Biology and Philosophy, The Lancet, Nature Reviews Immunology, and The Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the USA.

Table of Contents

1. Theories of Development in Biology - Problems and Perspectives, Alessandro Minelli and Thomas Pradeu
2. Regenerating Theories in Developmental Biology, Thomas Pradeu
3. The Erotetic Organization of Developmental Biology, Alan Love
4. On the Concept of Mechanism in Development, Johannes Jaeger and James Sharpe
5. The Epistemological Resilience of the Concept of Morphogenetic Field, Davide Vecchi and Isaac Hernandez
6. Physico-genetics of Morphogenesis: The Hybrid Nature of Developmental Mechanisms, Stuart Newman
7. The Landscape Metaphor in Development, Giuseppe Fusco, Roberto Carrer and Emanuele Serrelli
8. Formalizing Theories of Development: A Fugue on the Orderliness of Change, Scott Gilbert and Jonathan Bard
9. General Theories of Evolution and Inheritance, but not Development?, Wallace Arthur
10. Cell Differentiation Is a Stochastic Process Subjected to Natural Selection, Jean-Jacques Kupiec
11. From Genes to Gene Regulatory Networks: The Progressive Historical Construction of a Genetic Theory of Development and Evolution, Michel Morange
12. Reproduction and Scaffolded Developmental Processes: An Integrated Evolutionary Perspective, James Griesemer
13. Comparison of Animal and Plant Development: A Right Track to Establish a Theory of Development?, Michel Vervoort
14. Toward a Theory of Development Through a Theory of Developmental Evolution, Armin P. Moczek
15. Developmental Disparity, Alessandro Minelli
16. Identifying Some Theories in Developmental Biology. The Case of the Cancer Stem Cell Theory, Lucie Laplane
17. Animal Development in a Microbial World, Spencer V. Nyholm and Margaret McFall-Ngai