Peterson, Erik L. (Author)
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.
...MoreReview Nick Hopwood (2018) Review of "The Life Organic: The Theoretical Biology Club and the Roots of Epigenetics". American Historical Review (pp. 641-642).
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).
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).
Essay Review Tatjana Buklijas (2018) Life Reconsidered. Science and Education (pp. 575-580).
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).
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).
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).
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).
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).
Essay Review
Tatjana Buklijas;
(2018)
Life Reconsidered
(/isis/citation/CBB581106067/)
Article
Allen, Garland E.;
(2005)
Mechanism, Vitalism and Organicism in Late Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Biology: The Importance of Historical Context
(/isis/citation/CBB000770690/)
Article
Loison, Laurent;
(2011)
French Roots of French Neo-Lamarckisms, 1879--1985
(/isis/citation/CBB001220959/)
Article
Erlingsson, Steinór J.;
(2002)
From Haeckelian Monist to Anti-Haeckelian Vitalist: The Transformation of the Icelandic Naturalist Thorvaldur Thoroddsen (1855--1921)
(/isis/citation/CBB000300488/)
Chapter
Carvallo, Sarah;
(2006)
Histoire du tonus: ruptures ou continuité?
(/isis/citation/CBB001024260/)
Article
Luca Chiapperino;
Francesco Panese;
(2017)
La metafora assoluta della “plasticità” tra i secoli XIX e XX: un’indagine sulle tracce del biosociale in epigenetica
(/isis/citation/CBB244157938/)
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/)
Thesis
Chang, Ku-ming;
(2002)
The Matter of Life: Georg Ernst Stahl and the Reconceptualizations of Matter, Body and Life in Early Modern Europe
(/isis/citation/CBB001562441/)
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/)
Article
Dahl, Thomas;
(2005)
Transformasjon av liv? Rudolf Virchows oppgjør med teorien om livskraft og etableringen av den vitenskapelige medisinen
(/isis/citation/CBB000770386/)
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/)
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