Levels of Organization in the Biological Sciences - Vienna Series in Theoretical Biology

This volume examines the idea of levels of organisation as a distinct object of investigation, considering its merits as a core organisational principle for the scientific image of the natural world. It approaches levels of organisation--roughly, the idea that the natural world is segregated into part-whole relationships of increasing spatiotemporal scale and complexity--in terms of its roles in scientific reasoning as a dynamic, open-ended idea capable of performing multiple overlapping functions in distinct empirical settings. The contributors--scientific philosophers with longstanding ties to the biological sciences--discuss topics including the philosophical and scientific contexts for an inquiry into levels; whether the concept can actually deliver on its organisational promises; the role of levels in the development and evolution of complex systems; conditional independence and downward causation; and the extension of the concept into the sociocultural realm. Taken together, the contributions embrace the diverse usages of the term as aspects of the big picture of levels of organisation. Contributors Jan Baedke, Robert W. Batterman, Daniel S. Brooks, James DiFrisco, Markus I. Eronen, Carl Gillett, Sara Green, James Griesemer, Alan C. Love, Angela Potochnik, Thomas Reydon, Ilya Tëmkin, Jon Umerez, William C. Wimsatt, James Woodward.

ISBN:	9780262045339
Publisher:	The MIT Press
Imprint:	The MIT Press
Published date:	11 Aug 2021
DEWEY:	570.1
DEWEY edition:	23
Language:	English
Number of pages:	xii, 323
Weight:	690g
Height:	178mm
Width:	255mm
Spine width:	24mm

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