Sex and Death

by Sterelny, Kim; Griffiths, Paul E.

• ISBN13: 9780226773049
• ISBN10: 0226773043
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-06-01
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr

Summary

Is the history of life a series of accidents or a drama scripted by selfish genes? Is there an "essential" human nature, determined at birth or in a distant evolutionary past? What should we conservespecies, ecosystems, or something else?Informed answers to questions like these, critical to our understanding of ourselves and the world around us, require both a knowledge of biology and a philosophical framework within which to make sense of its findings. In this accessible introduction to philosophy of biology, Kim Sterelny and Paul E. Griffiths present both the science and the philosophical context necessary for a critical understanding of the most exciting debates shaping biology today. The authors, both of whom have published extensively in this field, describe the range of competing viewsincluding their ownon these fascinating topics.With its clear explanations of both biological and philosophical concepts, Sex and Death will appeal not only to undergraduates, but also to the many general readers eager to think critically about the science of life.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
Part I Introduction	1	(52)
Theory Really Matters: Philosophy of Biology and Social Issues
The Science of Life Itself	3	(4)
Is There an Essential Human Nature?	7	(3)
Is Genuine Altruism Possible?	10	(3)
Are Human Beings Programmed by Their Genes?	13	(4)
Biology and the Pre-emption of Social Science	17	(2)
What Should Conservationists Conserve?	19	(3)
The Received View of Evolution
The Diversity of Life	22	(9)
Evolution and Natural Selection	31	(7)
The Received View and Its Challenges	38	(15)
Part II Genes, Molecules, and Organisms	53	(96)
The Gene's Eye View of Evolution
Replicators and Interactors	55	(6)
The Special Status of Replicators	61	(5)
The Bookkeeping Argument	66	(4)
The Extended Phenotype	70	(7)
The Organism Strikes Back
What Is a Gene?	77	(5)
Genes Are Active Germ Line Replacators	82	(5)
Genes Are Difference Makers	87	(7)
The Developmental Systems Alternative
Gene Selectionism and Development	94	(1)
Epigenetic Inheritance and Beyond	95	(2)
The Interactionist Consensus	97	(3)
Information in Development	100	(6)
Other Grounds for Privileging Genes	106	(1)
Developmental Systems and Extended Replicators	107	(2)
One True Story?	109	(3)
Mendel and Molecules
How Theories Relate: Displacement, Incorporation, and Integration	112	(9)
What Is Mendelian Genetics?	121	(3)
Molecular Genetics: Transcription and Translation	124	(4)
Gene Regulation	128	(4)
Are Genes Protein Makers?	132	(5)
Reduction: For and Against
The Antireductionist Consensus	137	(2)
Reduction by Degrees?	139	(2)
Are Gene DNA Sequences Plus Contexts?	141	(1)
The Reductionist Anticonsensus	142	(7)
Part III Organisms, Groups, and Species	149	(66)
Organisms, Groups, and Superorganisms
Interactors	151	(2)
The Challenge of Altruism	153	(3)
Group Selection: Take 1	156	(4)
Group Selection: Take 2	160	(6)
Population-Structured Evolution	166	(6)
Organisms and Superorganisms	172	(8)
Species
Are Species Real?	180	(4)
The Nature of Species	184	(10)
The One True Tree of Life	194	(7)
Species Selection	201	(14)
Part IV Evolutionary Explanations	215	(96)
Adaptation, Perfection, Function
Adaptation	217	(3)
Function	220	(4)
The Attack on Adaptationism	224	(2)
What Is Adaptationism?	226	(2)
Structuralism and the Bauplan	228	(6)
Optimality and Falsifiability	234	(7)
Adaptation and the Comparative Method	241	(12)
Adaptation, Ecology, and the Enviorment
The Received View in Ecology	253	(5)
History and Theory in Ecology	258	(8)
The Balance of Nature	266	(2)
Niches and Organisms	268	(4)
Reconstructing Niches	272	(4)
Unfinished Business	276	(4)
Life on Earth: The Big Picture
The Arrow of Time and the Ladder of Progress	280	(7)
Gould's Challenge	287	(4)
What Is Disparity?	291	(5)
Contingency and Its Consequences	296	(6)
Mass Extinction and the History of Life	302	(4)
Conclusions	306	(5)
Part V Evolution and Human Nature	311	(44)
From Sociobiology to Evolutionary Psychology
1975 and All That	313	(5)
The Wilson Program	318	(3)
From Darwinian Behaviorism to Darwinian Psychology	321	(3)
Evolutionary Psychology and Its Promise	324	(4)
Evolutionary Psychology and Its Problems	328	(4)
Memes and Cultural Evolution	332	(5)
A Case Study: Evolutionary Theories of Emotion
Darwin on the Emotions	337	(4)
Sociobiology and Evolutionary Psychology on the Emotions	341	(3)
The Modular Emotions	344	(4)
Beyond the Modular Emotions	348	(4)
Emotion, Evolution, and Evolved Psychology	352	(3)
Part VI Concluding Thoughts	355	(24)
What Is Life?
Defining Life	357	(7)
Universal Biology	364	(6)
Simulation and Emergence	370	(9)
Final Thoughts	379	(4)
Glossary	383	(8)
References	391	(32)
Index	423