Book ID: CBB675901053

The Life Organic: The Theoretical Biology Club and the Roots of Epigenetics (2017)

unapi

Peterson, Erik L. (Author)


University of Pittsburgh Press


Publication Date: 2017
Physical Details: 352
Language: English

As scientists debated the nature of life in the nineteenth century, two theories predominated: vitalism, which suggested that living things contained a “vital spark,” and mechanism, the idea that animals and humans differed from nonliving things only in their degree of complexity. Erik Peterson tells the forgotten story of the pursuit of a “third way’ in biology, known by many names, including “the organic philosophy,” which gave rise to C. H. Waddington’s work in the subfield of epigenetics: an alternative to standard genetics and evolutionary biology that captured the attention of notable scientists from Francis Crick to Stephen Jay Gould. The Life Organic chronicles the influential biologists, mathematicians, philosophers, and biochemists from both sides of the Atlantic who formed Joseph Needham’s Theoretical Biology Club, defined and refined “third way” thinking through the 1930s, and laid the groundwork for some of the most cutting-edge achievements in biology today. By tracing the persistence of organicism into the twenty-first century, this book also raises significant questions about how we should model the development of the discipline of biology going forward.

...More
Reviewed By

Review Nick Hopwood (2018) Review of "The Life Organic: The Theoretical Biology Club and the Roots of Epigenetics". American Historical Review (pp. 641-642). unapi

Review Nils Roll-Hansen (2017) Review of "The Life Organic: The Theoretical Biology Club and the Roots of Epigenetics". Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences (pp. 30-34). unapi

Essay Review Daniel S. Brooks (2019) Conceptual Heterogeneity and the Legacy of Organicism: Thoughts on the Life Organic. History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences (p. 24). unapi

Essay Review Tatjana Buklijas (2018) Life Reconsidered. Science and Education (pp. 575-580). unapi

Review Boris Jardine (2017) Review of "The Life Organic: The Theoretical Biology Club and the Roots of Epigenetics". British Journal for the History of Science (pp. 740-741). unapi

Review Maurizio Esposito (2018) Review of "The Life Organic: The Theoretical Biology Club and the Roots of Epigenetics". Isis: International Review Devoted to the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences (pp. 216-217). unapi

Review Peter J. Bowler (2017) Review of "The Life Organic: The Theoretical Biology Club and the Roots of Epigenetics". Annals of Science: The History of Science and Technology (pp. 343-344). unapi

Review Max Dresow (2017) Review of "The Life Organic: The Theoretical Biology Club and the Roots of Epigenetics". Journal of the History of Biology (pp. 673-675). unapi

Review Laurent Loison (2016) Review of "The Life Organic: The Theoretical Biology Club and the Roots of Epigenetics". Centaurus: International Magazine of the History of Mathematics, Science, and Technology (pp. 310-311). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB675901053/

Similar Citations

Essay Review Tatjana Buklijas; (2018)
Life Reconsidered (/isis/citation/CBB581106067/)

Article Loison, Laurent; (2011)
French Roots of French Neo-Lamarckisms, 1879--1985 (/isis/citation/CBB001220959/)

Chapter Carvallo, Sarah; (2006)
Histoire du tonus: ruptures ou continuité? (/isis/citation/CBB001024260/)

Article Luca Chiapperino; Francesco Panese; (2021)
On the traces of the biosocial: Historicizing “plasticity” in contemporary epigenetics (/isis/citation/CBB820144208/)

Article Charles T. Wolfe; (2017)
Models of Organic Organization in Montpellier Vitalism (/isis/citation/CBB805385291/)

Book Normandin, Sebastien; Wolfe, Charles T.; (2013)
Vitalism and the Scientific Image in Post-Enlightenment Life Science, 1800--2010 (/isis/citation/CBB001213190/)

Book Jessica Riskin; (2015)
A History of the Centuries-Long Argument over What Makes Living Things Tick (/isis/citation/CBB045220187/)

Book Christopher Donohue; Charles T. Wolfe; (2023)
Vitalism and Its Legacy in Twentieth Century Life Sciences and Philosophy (/isis/citation/CBB947852171/)

Chapter Allen, Garland E.; (2008)
Rebel with Two Causes: Hans Driesch (/isis/citation/CBB000960090/)

Article Fareld, Victoria; (2006)
Wilhelm von Humboldts frihet som epigenetisk bildning (/isis/citation/CBB001220357/)

Book Francesco Andrietti; (2013)
Vitalismo e meccanicismo in biologia: dal XVII secolo agli inizi del XIX (/isis/citation/CBB284016359/)

Article Bechtel, William; (2010)
The Cell: Locus or Object of Inquiry? (/isis/citation/CBB001023957/)

Article Erik L. Peterson; Crystal Hall; (2022)
“What is Dead May Not Die”: Locating Marginalized Concepts Among Ordinary Biologists (/isis/citation/CBB576856882/)

Book Susan Merrill Squier; (2017)
Epigenetic Landscapes: Drawings as Metaphor (/isis/citation/CBB524640115/)

Book Michel Morange; (2020)
The Black Box of Biology: A History of the Molecular Revolution (/isis/citation/CBB035364586/)

Authors & Contributors
Wolfe, Charles T.
Chiapperino, Luca
Panese, Francesco
Allen, Garland E.
Donohue, Christopher R.
Riskin, Jessica
Concepts
Biology
Vitalism
Mechanism; mechanical philosophy
Epigenetics
Philosophy of biology
Life sciences
Time Periods
20th century
19th century
21st century
18th century
20th century, early
17th century
Places
Germany
Europe
France
Iceland
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment