S. K. Sarkar

Newman objects to human germ-line editingGerm-line editing on both philosophical and practical grounds. While the philosophical grounds are compelling, I argue that they are not sufficiently strong to exclude all germ-line editingGerm-line editing to eliminate genetic diseasesGenetic disease. However, the practical reasons he offers preclude germ-line editing except in very limited circumstances. I argue that my requirement of gene specificityGene specificity in Cut-and-Paste Genetics can address his concerns. Meanwhile Baxter argues that my criteria are so restrictive that they would exclude all presently plausible candidate genes from being edited in the human germ-line editingGerm-line editing. I agree that this may be the case but that it is an acceptable policy situation because it behooves us to be very careful when editing of the human germ-line is at stake.

The emergence of CRISPR/Cas9 technology has revolutionized gene editing and made both gene therapy and eugenic control of future human evolution plausible. This accessible book puts these developments in their historical and scientific contexts and analyzes the policy and ethical challenges they raise. It presents the case for altering the human germ-line to eliminate a large number of genetic diseases controlled by a single or few genes, while pointing out that gene therapy is likely to ineffective for diseases with more complex causation. In parallel it explores the possibility of genetic enhancement in a similarly subscribed set of cases. But it also argues that, in general, genetic enhancement is ethically problematic and should be approached with caution. Given the success of CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing, and the explosion of related techniques, in practice it would be virtually impossible to ban germ-line editing for the future. A more useful goal is to regulate it with oversight that represents all stakeholders. That, in turn, requires an informed public discussion of these issues which this book aims to foster.

The emergence of CRISPR/Cas9 technology has revolutionized gene editing and made both gene therapy and eugenic control of future human evolution plausible. This accessible book puts these developments in their historical and scientific contexts and analyzes the policy and ethical challenges they raise. It presents the case for altering the human germ-line to eliminate a large number of genetic diseases controlled by a single or few genes, while pointing out that gene therapy is likely to ineffective for diseases with more complex causation. In parallel it explores the possibility of genetic enhancement in a similarly subscribed set of cases. But it also argues that, in general, genetic enhancement is ethically problematic and should be approached with caution. Given the success of CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing, and the explosion of related techniques, in practice it would be virtually impossible to ban germ-line editing for the future. A more useful goal is to regulate it with oversight that represents all stakeholders. That, in turn, requires an informed public discussion of these issues which this book aims to foster.

Comprised of essays by top scholars in the field, this volume offers detailed overviews of philosophical issues raised by biology. Brings together a team of eminent scholars to explore the philosophical issues raised by biology Addresses traditional and emerging topics, spanning molecular biology and genetics, evolution, developmental biology, immunology, ecology, mind and behaviour, neuroscience, and experimentation Begins with a thorough introduction to the field Goes beyond previous treatments that focused only on evolution to give equal attention to other areas, such as molecular and developmental biology Represents both an authoritative guide to philosophy of biology, and an accessible reference work for anyone seeking to learn about this rapidly-changing field.

Biological diversity - or ‘biodiversity’ - is the degree of variation of life within an ecosystem. It is a relatively new topic of study but has grown enormously in recent years. Because of its interdisciplinary nature the very concept of biodiversity is the subject of debate amongst philosophers, biologists, geographers and environmentalists. The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Biodiversity is an outstanding reference source to the key topics and debates in this exciting subject. Comprising twenty-three chapters by a team of international contributors the _Handbook_ is divided into six parts: Historical and sociological contexts, focusing on the emergence of the term and early attempts to measure biodiversity _What is biodiversity? _How should biodiversity be defined? How can biodiversity include entities at the edge of its boundaries, including microbial diversity and genetically engineered organisms? _Why protect biodiversity? _What can traditional environmental ethics_ _contribute to biodiversity?_ _Topics covered include anthropocentrism, intrinsic value, and ethical controversies surrounding the economics of biodiversity _Measurement and methodology: _including decision-theory and conservation, the use of indicators for biodiversity, and the changing use of genetics in biodiversity conservation _Social contexts and global justice: _including conservation and community conflicts and biodiversity and cultural values _Biodiversity and other environmental values_: How does biodiversity relate to other values like ecological restoration or ecological sustainability? Essential reading for students and researchers in philosophy, environmental science and environmental studies, and conservation management, it will also be extremely useful to those studying biodiversity in subjects such as biology and geography.

This book explores the epistemological and ethical issues at the foundations of environmental philosophy, emphasising the conservation of biodiversity. Sahota Sarkar criticises attempts to attribute intrinsic value to nature and defends an anthropocentric position on biodiversity conservation based on an untraditional concept of transformative value. Unlike other studies in the field of environmental philosophy, this book is as much concerned with epistemological issues as with environmental ethics. It covers a broad range of topics, including problems of explanation and prediction in traditional ecology and how individual-based models and Geographic Information Systems technology is transforming ecology. Introducing a brief history of conservation biology, Sarkar analyses the consensus framework for conservation planning through adaptive management. He concludes with a discussion of directions for theoretical research in conservation biology and environmental philosophy.

A recent set of experiments by Cairns et al. (1988) purport to show that some mutations in a strain of E. coli bacteria are directed in the sense that they are induced, somehow, in an environment that is suited for them. If this claim is true it would limit the validity of the neo-Darwinian assumption that evolution proceeds by “random variation and natural selection” which requires that there be no correlation between the genesis of a particular mutation and the fitness of the corresponding phenotype in the environment in which the mutation occurs. Instead, it would argue for the occurrence of some “neo-Lamarckian” processes in evolution in the sense that the genesis of some mutations would have a positive correlation with the fitness of the resultant phenotype in that environment. Thus, one of the most fundamental tenets of the neo-Darwinian interpretation of evolution would be brought into question.

Over the last eighteen years Manfred Eigen and his co-workers have postulated a new theory about the origin of life on earth that has presented a detailed account of how many of the features of extant living organisms (such as a universal genetic code and protein-nucleic acid interdependence) might have arisen from purely physical interactions.2 This theory is critically based on the special dynamical properties of certain chemical cycles called “hypercycles” which cause some of them to exhibit hyperbolic growth over time while undergoing selection. The purpose of this paper is to separate two aspects of this theory and then to study the first one in greater detail. The first aspect consists of a physical account of evolution by natural selection at the molecular level that depends only on the kinetics of certain chemical systems and can be applied to a variety of such systems. The second consists of the special dynamical properties that are exhibited when this account is applied, specifically, to hypercycles.

Despite the transformation in biological practice and theory brought about by discoveries in molecular biology, until recently philosophy of biology continued to focus on evolutionary biology. When the Human Genome Project got underway in the late 1980s and early 1990s, philosophers of biology -- unlike historians and social scientists -- had little to add to the debate. In this landmark collection of essays, Sahotra Sarkar broadens the scope of current discussions of the philosophy of biology, viewing molecular biology as a unifying perspective on life that complements that of evolutionary biology. His focus is on molecular biology, but the overriding question behind these papers is what molecular biology contributes to all traditional areas of biological research.Molecular biology -- described with some foresight in a 1938 Rockefeller Foundation report as a branch of science in which "delicate modern techniques are being used to investigate ever more minute details" -- and its modeling strategies apparently argue in favor of physical reductionism. Sarkar's first three chapters explore reductionism -- defending it, but cautioning that reduction to molecular interactions is not necessarily a reduction to genetics. The next sections of the book discuss function, exploring how functional explanations pose a problem for reductionism; the informational interpretation of biology and how it interacts with reductionism; and the tension between the unifying framework of molecular biology and the received framework of evolutionary theory. The concluding chapter is an essay in the emerging field of developmental evolution, exploring what molecular biology may contribute to the transformation of evolutionary theory as evolutionary theory takes into account morphogenetic development

Comprised of essays by top scholars in the field, this volume offers concise overviews of philosophical issues raised by biology. Brings together a team of eminent scholars to explore the philosophical issues raised by biology Addresses traditional and emerging topics, spanning molecular biology and genetics, evolution, developmental biology, immunology, ecology, mind and behaviour, neuroscience, and experimentation Begins with a thorough introduction to the field Goes beyond previous treatments that focused only on evolution to give equal attention to other areas, such as molecular and developmental biology Represents both an authoritative guide to philosophy of biology, and an accessible reference work for anyone seeking to learn about this rapidly-changing field

Conservation biology emerged as an organized academic discipline in the United States in the 1980s though much of its theoretical framework was originally developed in Australia. Significant differences of approach in the two traditions were resolved in the late 1990s through the formulation of a consensus framework for the design and adaptive management of conservation area networks. This entry presents an outline of that framework along with a critical analysis of conceptual issues concerning the four theoretical problems that emerge from it: (i) place prioritization for conservation action; (ii) the selection of surrogates for biodiversity in conservation planning; (iii) the assessment of vulnerability of conservation areas; and (iv) the synchronization of incommensurable criteria including socio-economic constraints on conservation planning.

Habitat dioramas depicting ecological relations between organisms and their natural environments have become the preferred mode of museum display in most natural history museums in North America and Europe. Dioramas emerged in the late nineteenth century as an alternative mode of museum installation from taxonomically arranged cases. We suggest that this change was closely connected to the emergence of a biogeographical framework rooted in evolutionary theory and positing the existence of distinct biogeographical zones. We tie the history of dioramas to earlier visual resources such as the thematic images that Wallace introduced to illustrate his 1876 Geographical Distribution of Animals. These images were unique in their time because each of them simultaneously depicted animals from several different taxa, rather than only one, as well as the ecological relations between animals and their habitats. Both, visually and with respect to their function within biogeography, these images presaged the habitat dioramas that came shortly afterwards. Not coincidentally, Wallace explicitly advocated the use of dioramas for museum display in ongoing debates on museum reform. Wallace 's suggestions were put into practice by committed evolutionists such as Gottlieb von Koch who pioneered the diorama installation in the Grand Ducal Museum in Darmstadt in 1906. As in Wallace 's illustrations, Koch's dioramas were designed to respresent biogeographical zones. This paper explores the function of these visual displays of biogeographical relations. It argues that, in both the scientific and public realms, biogeogaphical zones were defined and constructed by visual means; recourse to visual representation was more than a method of communication

Subramanian has produced a new biography of Haldane taking into account archival material that has only become public during the last decade. He has been able to provide a more complete picture of Haldane’s personal life than earlier biographers, such as his difficult schooldays at Eton and the deterioration of his first marriage. He has also highlighted the extent to which Haldane was kept under constant secret surveillance by British intelligence services because of his politics. However, the book is less successful in its account of Haldane’s scientific work including what he contributed to modern evolutionary theory, the Fisher–Haldane relationship, Haldane’s role in the Lysenko controversy, and what he achieved after emigration to India in 1957.

Intelligent Design creationism is often criticized for failing to be science because it falls afoul of some demarcation criterion between science and non-science. This paper argues that this objection to Intelligent Design is misplaced because it assumes that a consistent non-theological characterization of Intelligent Design is possible. In contrast, it argues that, if Intelligent Design is taken to be non-theological doctrine, it is not intelligible. Consequently, a demarcation criterion cannot be used to judge its status. This position has the added advantage of providing reasons to reject Intelligent Design creationism without invoking potentially philosophically controversial demarcation criteria.