Lidgard and Nyhart have compiled a superb collection of essays concerning recent work on the concept and nature of biological individuals. . . . The overarching question 'What is a biological individual?' is demonstrated to have an intricate history, changing and evolving as biologists learned more about organismic structures and functions, life cycles, cellular systems, and ecological interactions. Notions of ... Read morewhat counts as an individual are shown to have carried over into social and political identities and practices. In addition, philosophical, conceptual underpinnings and commitments are shown to interplay with these changing biological understandings. . . . The volume is marvelous! While not for the casual reader, it is exemplary of the best current work in biological philosophy. . . . Highly recommended.
D. B. Boersema, Pacific University Choice I found this collection a very enjoyable read and recommend it as a starting point to anyone interested in the notion of biological individuality broadly construed and interested in understanding what unifies and separates the different meanings of this term across time and disciplines.
Pierrick Bourrat, Macquarie University Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews A tour de force inquiry of individuality that proposes a fruitful perspective that potentially resolves many of its disparate definitions. Biological Individuality reflects the strengths of cross-disciplinary research on fundamental biological concepts.
Paul Lawrence Farber, Oregon State University, emeritus, author of Finding Order in Nature: The Naturalist Tradition from Linnaeus to E. O. Wilson Individuality is one of the hottest topics in the philosophy of biology today. The recent, technologically driven explosion of knowledge about the microbial world has led both biologists and philosophers to reconsider the traditional idea that organisms are genetically uniform populations of cells with a clear physical boundary
bodies. Very up-to-date, containing a number of substantial original contributions, and with a good balance of historians, philosophers, and eminent scientists, Biological Individuality is well positioned to represent the most exciting strands of the current debate.
Paul Griffiths, University of Sydney, coauthor of Genetics and Philosophy: An Introduction Show Less