Overview
- Provides information about recent research results in genetics and related disciplines
- Shows the way in which those results influence genetics itself and many other fields
- Explains the impact of genetics on contemporary culture
- Describes contemporary public policy debates related to genetics
- Contains the most recent views of the Nobel Laureate François Jacob on genetics and the nature of living things
Part of the book series: Logic, Epistemology, and the Unity of Science (LEUS, volume 6)
Access this book
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Other ways to access
Table of contents (13 chapters)
-
Front Matter
-
Genetics And The Life Sciences
-
Front Matter
-
-
Genetics and Philosophy of Science: The Reductionism Debate and Beyond
-
Front Matter
-
-
Genetics and the Ethical, Legal and Sociological Debate
-
Front Matter
-
-
Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
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 André 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.
Reviews
From the reviews:
"This ambitious book aims to survey the influence of genetics and molecular biology on contemporary thought quite generally. [...] Highlights of the first section include an excellent introduction to what genetics has taught us about human origins by Francisco Ayala and his group of Spanish collaborators. [...] The section devoted to philosophy of science is particularly strong."
Paul Griffiths, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia in Metascience
"Organized in three main sections: ‘Genetics and the Life Sciences’; ‘Genetics and the Philosophy of Science: The Reductionism Debate and Beyond’; and ‘Genetics and the Ethical, Legal and Sociological Debate’, these contributions are more informative about what other disciplines have to say about genetics … . those who keep reading will be rewarded. When judged upon their merit as stand-alone pieces … the chapters are highly stimulating." (Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy, Vol. 11 (3), 2008)
Editors and Affiliations
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: The Influence of Genetics on Contemporary Thinking
Editors: Anne Fagot-Largeault, Shahid Rahman, Juan Manuel Torres
Series Title: Logic, Epistemology, and the Unity of Science
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5664-2
Publisher: Springer Dordrecht
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life Sciences, Biomedical and Life Sciences (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2007
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4020-5663-5Published: 24 May 2007
Softcover ISBN: 978-90-481-7419-5Published: 22 November 2010
eBook ISBN: 978-1-4020-5664-2Published: 28 November 2007
Series ISSN: 2214-9775
Series E-ISSN: 2214-9783
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: LVI, 216
Topics: Biomedicine general, Philosophy, general, Medicine/Public Health, general, Philosophy of Science, Anthropology