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66Vitalisme et philosophie de la biologieRÉPHA, revue étudiante de philosophie analytique 2 7-18. 2010.
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1Knowledge of Life Today presents the thoughts of Jean Gayon, a major philosopher of science in France who is recognized across the Atlantic, especially for his work in philosophy and the history of life sciences. The book is structured around Gayon's personal answers to questions put forward by Victor Petit. This approach combines scientific rigor and risk-taking in answers that go back to the fundamentals of the subject. As well as the relationship between philosophy and the history of science,…Read more
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17Functions: From Organisms to Artefacts (edited book)Springer Verlag. 2023.This book, originally published in French, examines the philosophical debates on functions over the last forty years and proposes new ways of analysis. Pervasive throughout the life sciences, the concept of function has the air of an epistemological scandal: ascribing a function to a biological structure or process amounts to suggesting that it is explained by its effects. This book confronts the debates on function with the use of the notion in a wide range of disciplines, such as biology, psyc…Read more
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5Bergson's Spiritualist Metaphysics and the SciencesIn Gary Gutting (ed.), Continental Philosophy of Science, Blackwell. 2005.This chapter contains section titled: Introductory Remarks: Not a “Philosopher of Science” “Positive Metaphysics” “Confrontation” Bergson's Epistemology and Philosophy of Science.
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21The Contributions – and Collapse – of Lamarckian Heredity in Pasteurian Molecular Biology: 1. Lysogeny, 1900–1960Journal of the History of Biology 50 (1): 5-52. 2017.This article shows how Lamarckism was essential in the birth of the French school of molecular biology. We argue that the concept of inheritance of acquired characters positively shaped debates surrounding bacteriophagy and lysogeny in the Pasteurian tradition during the interwar period. During this period the typical Lamarckian account of heredity treated it as the continuation of protoplasmic physiology in daughter cells. Félix d’Hérelle applied this conception to argue that there was only one…Read more
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291À propos de l'article de Juliette Grange dans Cités 58Cités 60 (4): 199-204. 2014.Réponses à Juliette Grange sur ses remises en cause peu argumentées d'une partie de la philosophie en France.
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10Genetics after World War II: The Laboratories at GifCahiers Pour l'Histoire du CNRS 6 108-110. 1989.Ire partie.
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Cybernétique enzymatique: un inédit de Jacques MonodIn Claude Debru, Michel Morange, Frédéric Worms & Laurent Loison (eds.), Une nouvelle connaissance du vivant: François Jacob, André Lwoff et Jacques Monod, Editions Rue D'ulm. 2012.
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4Inquiring into Animal Enhancement (edited book)Springer. 2015.Can the age-old practices of animal selection and breeding and the more recent biotechnological interventions on animals, far more intrusive and systematic than any present form of human enhancement, enlighten us as to the future of enhancement practices? This book explores issues raised by past and present practices of animal enhancement in terms of their means and their goals, clarifies conceptual issues and identifies lessons that can be learned about enhancement practices, as they concern bo…Read more
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Population genetics, economic theory, and eugenics in R.A. FisherIn R. Paul Thompson & Denis Walsh (eds.), Evolutionary biology: conceptual, ethical, and religious issues, Cambridge University Press. 2014.
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11François Dagognet: philosophe, épistémologue (edited book)Éditions Matériologiques. 2019.François Dagognet (1924-2015) nous a laissé une oeuvre immense et foisonnante : près de soixante-dix ouvrages, sur les thèmes les plus divers, de l'épistémologie à l'art contemporain, de la politique au droit, de l'argent à la morale, de la peau au trouble, sans oublier le paysage, ou l'agronomie, les déchets ou les musées, parmi bien d'autres sujets. Sa curiosité universelle et inassouvie égalait, voire dépassait, celle de son maître Bachelard. Montrer comment Dagognet a illustré…Read more
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24French Studies in the Philosophy of Science: Contemporary Research in France (edited book)Springer. 2009.The series Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science was conceived in the broadest framework of interdisciplinary and international concerns.
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J. Proust, Questions de forme: logique et proposition analytique de Kant à Carnap (review)Société Française de Philosophie, Bulletin 80 (4): 489. 1989.
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Repetition and Reversibility in Evolution: Theoretical Population GeneticsIn Philippe Huneman & Christophe Bouton (eds.), Time of Nature and the Nature of Time: Philosophical Perspectives of Time in Natural Sciences, Springer. 2017.
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20The Modern Synthesis: Theoretical or Institutional Event?Journal of the History of Biology 52 (4): 519-535. 2019.This paper surveys questions about the nature of the Modern Synthesis as a historical event : was it rather theoretical than institutional? When and where did it actually happen? Who was involved? It argues that all answers to these questions are interrelated, and that systematic sets of answers define specific perspectives on the Modern Synthesis that are all complementary.
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19Animalité et végétalité dans les représentations de l’héréditéRevue de Synthèse 113 (3-4): 423-438. 1992.
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2210 From Darwin to today in evolutionary biologyIn J. Hodges & Gregory Radick (eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Darwin, Cambridge University Press. pp. 240. 2003.
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22Does oxygen have a function, or where should the regress of functional ascriptions stop in biology?In Philippe Huneman (ed.), Functions: Selection and Mechanisms, Springer. pp. 67--79. 2013.
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25The Role of the Vilmorin Company in the Promotion and Diffusion of the Experimental Science of Heredity in France, 1840–1920Journal of the History of Biology 31 (2). 1998.
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142Cultural evolution: A general appraisalLudus Vitalis 13 (23): 139-150. 2005.The first objective of the paper is to propose a classification and characterize the major approaches to the modes of cultural evolution: (1) Research programs on the origins of the cultural capacity of the human species. (2) Description and explanation of cultural change with the help of concepts or models inspired by the schemes of population genetics. (3) Research on parallel evolution of genes and culture. (4) Narrow coupling between biological evolution and cultural evolution, or the “gene-…Read more
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31Philosophy and history of science in Sober: comments on Did Write the Origin Backwards?Philosophical Studies 172 (3): 803-811. 2015.Did Darwin Write the Origin Backwards is Sober’s book that comes closest to history of science. Some reviews have expressed reservations about Sober’s inclination to subordinate historical accuracy to analytical clarity, and to contemporary discussions . My comments will be devoted to the kind of relationship that Sober entertains with history of science. I do not think that the author’s interest in history is superficial and instrumental.In the first section, I try to locate Sober’s book within…Read more
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22La biologie darwinienne de l'évolution est-elle 'reductionniste'?Revue Philosophique De Louvain 93 (1): 111-139. 1995.
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University of Paris 1 Panthéon-SorbonneDepartment for Teaching and Research in Philosophy (UFR10)Regular Faculty
Areas of Specialization
Philosophy of Biology |
20th Century Philosophy |
Areas of Interest
Philosophy of Biology |
20th Century Philosophy |