The Influence of Genetics on Contemporary Thinking

by Fagot-largeault, Anne; Rahman, Shahid; Torres, Juan Manuel

• ISBN13: 9781402056635
• ISBN10: 140205663X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-06-03
• Publisher: Springer Verlag

Summary

This volume reflects on the effects of recent discoveries in genetics on a broad range of scientific fields. In addition to neuroscience, evolutionary biology, anthropology and medicine, contributors analyze the effects of genetics on theories of health, law, epistemology and philosophy of biology. Social and moral concerns about the relationship between genetics, society and the individual also figure prominently. Genetic discoveries fuel central contemporary public policy debates concerning, for example, human cloning, equitable access to healthcare or the role of genetics in medicine. Perhaps more fundamentally, advances in genetics are altering our perception of human life and death. An interview with François Jacob by Anne Fagot-Largeault opens the volume. In this interview, Jacob, who shared a Nobel Prize with Andrè Lwoff and Jacques Monod for their discoveries concerning genetic control of enzyme and virus synthesis, addresses many of the central methodological epistemological and ethical questions covered in the volume. The dynamic interdisciplinary character of this volume makes it relevant to scholars from many disciplines, from biology, philosophy and the social sciences.

Table of Contents

Genetics and the human lineage : can genetics throw some light on the evolution of the human lineage?	p. 3
Genetics and neuroscience : some examples of their recent convergence and of the continuing nature-nurture controversy, with emphasis on sleep physiology	p. 25
Who made the genetic codes, how and by what?	p. 33
Genetics, life and death : genetics as providing a definition of life and death	p. 51
Moving beyond the influence of molecular genetics on the debate about reductionism in philosophy of biology	p. 63
The concept of the gene in contemporary biology : continuity or dissolution?	p. 81
The influence of genetics on philosophy of science : classical genetics and the structuralist view of theories	p. 97
Epi-geneticization : where biological and philosophical thinking meet	p. 115
Is DNA revolutionizing medicine?	p. 137
The harm of being a clone	p. 151
Children of one's own : genes, parenthood and the illusion of control	p. 165
Is a transcultural law for human genetics and biotechnology possible?	p. 181
Genetics and society: a different view	p. 195
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