Thinking about Life
The history and philosophy of biology and other sciences
Authors: Agutter, Paul S., Wheatley, Denys N.
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- About this book
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Our previous book, About Life, concerned modern biology. We used our present-day understanding of cells to ‘define’ the living state, providing a basis for exploring several general-interest topics: the origin of life, extraterrestrial life, intelligence, and the possibility that humans are unique. The ideas we proposed in About Life were intended as starting-points for debate – we did not claim them as ‘truth’ – but the information on which they were based is currently accepted as ‘scientific fact’. What does that mean? What is ‘scientific fact’ and why is it accepted? What is science – and is biology like other sciences such as physics (except in subject m- ter)? The book you are now reading investigates these questions – and some related ones. Like About Life, it may particularly interest a reader who wishes to change career to biology and its related subdisciplines. In line with a recommendation by the British Association for the Advancement of Science – that the public should be given fuller information about the nature of science – we present the concepts underpinning biology and a survey of its historical and philosophical basis.
- Table of contents (16 chapters)
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What is Science?
Pages 1-11
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Culture, Technology and Knowledge
Pages 13-23
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Classical Roots
Pages 25-36
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Mediaeval Views of the World
Pages 37-55
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The Scientific Revolution
Pages 57-74
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Table of contents (16 chapters)
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Bibliographic Information
- Bibliographic Information
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- Book Title
- Thinking about Life
- Book Subtitle
- The history and philosophy of biology and other sciences
- Authors
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- Paul S. Agutter
- Denys N. Wheatley
- Copyright
- 2008
- Publisher
- Springer Netherlands
- Copyright Holder
- Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
- eBook ISBN
- 978-1-4020-8866-7
- DOI
- 10.1007/978-1-4020-8866-7
- Hardcover ISBN
- 978-1-4020-8865-0
- Softcover ISBN
- 978-90-481-8010-3
- Edition Number
- 1
- Number of Pages
- XIV, 267
- Topics
