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83Multilevel Causation and the Extended SynthesisBiological Theory 9 (2): 209-220. 2014.In this article we argue that the classical—linear and bottom-up directed—models of causation in biology, and the ‘‘proximate/ultimate’’ dichotomy, are inappropriate to capture the complexity inherent to biological processes. We introduce a new notion of ‘‘multilevel causation’’ where old dichotomies such as proximate/ultimate and bottom-up/ top-down are reinterpreted within a multilevel, web-like, approach. In briefly reviewing some recent work on complexity, EvoDevo, carcinogenesis, autocataly…Read more
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50Utopianism in the British evolutionary synthesisStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 42 (1): 40-49. 2011.In this paper I propose a new interpretation of the British evolutionary synthesis. The synthetic work of J. B. S. Haldane, R. A. Fisher and J. S. Huxley was characterized by both an integration of Mendelism and Darwinism and the unification of different biological subdisciplines within a coherent framework. But it must also be seen as a bold and synthetic Darwinian program in which the biosciences served as a utopian blueprint for the progress of civilization. Describing the futuristic visions …Read more
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45Weismann Versus Morgan Revisited: Clashing Interpretations on Animal Regeneration (review)Journal of the History of Biology 46 (3): 511-541. 2013.This paper has three principal aims: first, through a detailed analysis of the hypotheses and assumptions underlying Weismann’s and Morgan’s disagreement on the nature of animal regeneration, it seeks to readdress the imbalance in coverage of their discussion, providing, at the same time, a fascinating case-study for those interested in general issues related to controversies in science. Second, contrary to Morgan’s beliefs according to which Weismann employed a speculative and unempirical metho…Read more
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41From “life” to biology and backward: The long gestation of a scientific disciplineStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 70 29-32. 2018.
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38The machine-organism relation revisitedHistory and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 45 (3): 1-23. 2023.This article addresses some crucial assumptions that are rarely acknowledged when organisms and machines are compared. We begin by presenting a short historical reconstruction of the concept of “machine.” We show that there has never been a unique and widely accepted definition of “machine” and that the extant definitions are based on specific technologies. Then we argue that, despite the concept's ambiguity, we can still defend a more robust, specific, and useful notion of machine analogy that …Read more
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35Problematic “Idiosyncrasies”: Rediscovering the Historical Context of D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson's Science of FormScience in Context 27 (1): 79-107. 2014.ArgumentD’Arcy Thompson has often been portrayed as a loner. His science of form has frequently been labeled anachronistic, idiosyncratic, and unconnected to his contemporary biology. This article aims to challenge this interpretation. Thompson's representation as a loner did not lie in the idiosyncrasies of his science, but in our own historiography. Through the use of unedited archival sources, this study shows that Thompson's biology was well-connected to an international research program – a…Read more
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34From human science to biologyHistory of the Human Sciences 29 (3): 44-62. 2016.Scholars have paid great attention to the neo-Darwinism of Ronald Fisher. He was one of the founding fathers of the modern synthesis and, not surprisingly, his writings and life have been widely scrutinized. However, less attention has been paid to his interests in the human sciences. In assessing Fisher’s uses of the human sciences in his seminal book the Genetical Theory of Natural Selection and elsewhere, the article shows how Fisher’s evolutionary thought was essentially eclectic when applie…Read more
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33Expectation and futurity: The remarkable success of genetic determinismStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 62 1-9. 2017.
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33Marcel Weber y la filosofía de la biología experimental: la cultura material de las ciencias entre pasado y futuroScientiae Studia 15 (2): 489. 2017.
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29In the beginning was the hand: Ernst Kapp and the relation between machine and organismRevista de Humanidades de Valparaíso 14 117-138. 2019.The relation between organisms and machines is very old. Over a century ago, the French historian and philosopher Alfred Victor Espinas observed that from the Greeks onwards the intelligibility of the organic world presupposed a comparison with technical objects. Aristotle, for instance, associated living organs with mechanical artefacts in order to understand animals ‘movements. In the modern period, Descartes, Borelli and other mechanists defended the idea that organisms are, in reality, machi…Read more
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29In the beginning was the hand: Ernst Kapp and the relation between machine and organismHumanities Journal of Valparaiso 14 117-138. 2019.The relation between organisms and machines is very old. Over a century ago, the French historian and philosopher Alfred Victor Espinas observed that from the Greeks onwards the intelligibility of the organic world presupposed a comparison with technical objects. Aristotle, for instance, associated living organs with mechanical artefacts in order to understand animals ‘movements. In the modern period, Descartes, Borelli and other mechanists defended the idea that organisms are, in reality, machi…Read more
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26Beyond Haeckel’s Law: Walter Garstang and the Evolutionary Biology that Might Have BeenJournal of the History of Biology 53 (2): 249-268. 2020.At the beginning of the twentieth century Haeckel’s biogenetic law was widely questioned. On the one hand, there were those who wanted to dismiss it altogether: ontogeny and phylogeny did not have any systematic or interesting relation. On the other hand, there were those who sought to revise it. They argued that while Haeckel’s recapitulationism might have been erroneous, this should not deter the research over the relation between evolution and development. The British embryologist Walter Gars…Read more
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25G. Richard Delisle, Les Philosophies du néo-darwinisme. Preface by Jean Gayon. Paris: Presses universitaires France, 2009. Pp. 456. ISBN 978-2130566267. Canadian $56.70 (review)British Journal for the History of Science 43 (2): 315-317. 2010.
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16Romantic Biology, 1890–1945Routledge. 2014.In this book, Esposito presents a historiography of organicist and holistic thought through an examination of the work of leading biologists from Britain and America. He shows how this work relates to earlier Romantic tradition and sets it within the wider context of the history and philosophy of the life sciences
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Kate MacCord, How Does Germline Regenerate? Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2024. Pp. 168. ISBN 978-0-226-83051-3. $26.00 (paper) (review)British Journal for the History of Science 1-2. forthcoming.