Description
Book SynopsisPresents a balance between science and philosophy. To explain and treat human disease, it is nearly always necessary to move beyond genetic reductionism and take into account holistic and integrative aspects that require the context of the patient in his biological and psychological entirety.
Trade Review"...will stimulate anyone with an interest in philosophy or science to reflect on reductionism...fruitful dialogues offer a rich trove of insights..." (The Quarterly Review of Biology, Sept 2003)
Table of ContentsPreface
Contributors
About the Editors
Introduction (D.L. Hull and M.H.V. Van Regenmortel)
Emergent Properties of Biological Molecules and Cells (R. P. J. Williams)
From Nineteenth Century Ideas on Reduction in Physiology to Non-reductive Explanations in Twentieth Century Biochemistry (C. Debru)
Pitfalls of Reductionism in Immunology (M. H. V. Van Regenmortel)
Reductionism in Medicine: Social Aspects of Health (E.A. Lloyd)
'Who's Afraid of Reductionism?' 'I am!' (S. Shostak)
Round Table Discussion 1 (Chair: A. Rosenberg)
Reductionism in a Historical Science (A. Rosenberg)
Varieties of Reductionism: Derivation and Gene Selection (D. L. Hull)
The Gene: Between Holism and Reductionism (M. Morange)
Genes versus Molecules: How to, and How Not To, Be a Reductionist (S. Sarak)
Limits on Reproduction: A Reductionist Research Strategy in Evolutionary Biology (J. Griesemer)
Evolutionary Psychology: A Case Study in the Poverty of Genetic Determinism (J. Dupre)
Round Table Discussion 2 (Chair: M.H.V. Van Regenmortel)
The Ethical Imperative of Holism in Medicine (A. Tauber)
Levels of Explanation in Human Behaviour: the Poverty of Evolutionary Psychology (S. P. R. Rose)
Reductionism and Social Policy (D. Nelkin)
Reductionism, Complexity and Molecular Medicine: Genetic Chips and the 'Globalization' of the Genome (K. Schaffner)
Round Table Discussion 3 (Chair: K.F. Schaffner)
Bibliography
Index
