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411Cell theory, specificity, and reproduction, 1837–1870Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 41 (3): 225-231. 2010.The cell is not only the structural, physiological, and developmental unit of life, but also the reproductive one. So far, however, this aspect of the cell has received little attention from historians and philosophers of biology. I will argue that cell theory had far-reaching consequences for how biologists conceptualized the reproductive relationships between germs and adult organisms. Cell theory, as formulated by Theodor Schwann in 1839, implied that this relationship was a specific and lawf…Read more
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254A translation of Carl Linnaeus's introduction to Genera plantarum (1737)Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 38 (3): 563-572. 2007.This paper provides a translation of the introduction, titled ‘Account of the work’ Ratio operis, to the first edition of Genera plantarum, published in 1737 by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus. The text derives its significance from the fact that it is the only published text in which Linnaeus engaged in an explicit discussion of his taxonomic method. Most importantly, it shows that Linnaeus was clearly aware that a classification of what he called ‘natural genera’ could not be achieved by a …Read more
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247Collection and collation: theory and practice of Linnaean botanyStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 38 (3): 541-562. 2007.Historians and philosophers of science have interpreted the taxonomic theory of Carl Linnaeus as an ‘essentialist’, ‘Aristotelian’, or even ‘scholastic’ one. This interpretation is flatly contradicted by what Linnaeus himself had to say about taxonomy in Systema naturae , Fundamenta botanica and Genera plantarum . This paper straightens out some of the more basic misinterpretations by showing that: Linnaeus’s species concept took account of reproductive relations among organisms and was therefor…Read more
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234From Linnaean Species to Mendelian Factors: Elements of Hybridism, 1751–1870Annals of Science 64 (2): 171-215. 2007.Summary In 1979, Robert C. Olby published an article titled ?Mendel no Mendelian??, in which he questioned commonly held views that Gregor Mendel (1822?1884) laid the foundations for modern genetics. According to Olby, and other historians of science who have since followed him, Mendel worked within the tradition of so-called hybridists, who were interested in the evolutionary role of hybrids rather than in laws of inheritance. We propose instead to view the hybridist tradition as an experimenta…Read more
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87Natural history and information overload: The case of LinnaeusStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 43 (1): 4-15. 2012.
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81Hybrids, pure cultures, and pure lines: from nineteenth-century biology to twentieth-century geneticsStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 38 (4): 796-806. 2007.Prompted by recent recognitions of the omnipresence of horizontal gene transfer among microbial species and the associated emphasis on exchange, rather than isolation, as the driving force of evolution, this essay will reflect on hybridization as one of the central concerns of nineteenth-century biology. I will argue that an emphasis on horizontal exchange was already endorsed by ‘biology’ when it came into being around 1800 and was brought to full fruition with the emergence of genetics in 1900…Read more
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62Early Mendelism and the subversion of taxonomy: epistemological obstacles as institutionsStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 36 (3): 465-487. 2005.This paper presents and discusses a series of hybridization experiments carried out by Nils Herman Nilsson-Ehle between 1900 and 1907 at a plant breeding station in Svalöf, Sweden. Since the late 1880s, the Svalöf station had been renowned for its ‘scientific’ breeding methods, which basically consisted of an elaborate system of record-keeping through which the offspring of individual plants were traced over generations while being meticulously described. This record system corresponded to a cer…Read more
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45Cycles and circulation: a theme in the history of biology and medicineHistory and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 43 (3): 1-39. 2021.We invite systematic consideration of the metaphors of cycles and circulation as a long-term theme in the history of the life and environmental sciences and medicine. Ubiquitous in ancient religious and philosophical traditions, especially in representing the seasons and the motions of celestial bodies, circles once symbolized perfection. Over the centuries cyclic images in western medicine, natural philosophy, natural history and eventually biology gained independence from cosmology and theolog…Read more
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38„In der Jungfernheide hinterm Pulvermagazin frequens“: Das Handexemplar des Florae Berolinensis Prodromus (1787) von Karl Ludwig WilldenowNTM Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Wissenschaften, Technik und Medizin 21 (1): 93-106. 2013.We provide a detailed description of an interleaved and heavily annotated copy of Florae Berolinensis Prodromus, a flora of Berlin published by the German apothecary and botanist Karl Ludwig Willdenow in 1787, which today is preserved at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz. We demonstrate that this is the copy that the author himself used and carried with him during his botanical excursions in and around Berlin to prepare a second edition of the work. By analyzing this docu…Read more
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36Eugenics: Then and now Content Type Journal Article DOI 10.1007/s11016-010-9477-1 Authors Staffan Müller-Wille, ESRC Centre for Genomics in Society, Byrne House, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4PJ UK Journal Metascience Online ISSN 1467-9981 Print ISSN 0815-0796.
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34Systems and How Linnaeus Looked at Them in RetrospectAnnals of Science 70 (3): 305-317. 2013.Summary A famous debate between John Ray, Joseph Pitton de Tournefort and Augustus Quirinus Rivinus at the end of the seventeenth century has often been referred to as signalling the beginning of a rift between classificatory methods relying on logical division and classificatory methods relying on empirical grouping. Interestingly, a couple of decades later, Linnaeus showed very little excitement in reviewing this debate, and this although he was the first to introduce the terminological distin…Read more
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32Natural history and information overload: The case of LinnaeusStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 43 (1): 4-15. 2012.
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32How to see the trees for the forest: introduction to a special issue on causation and diseaseHistory and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 33 (4). 2011.This paper summarizes the results from the first European Advanced Seminar in the Philosophy of the Life Sciences, which was held at the Brocher Foundation in Hermance (Switzerland) 6-10 September 2011. The Advanced Seminar brought together philosophers of the life sciences to discuss the topic of "Causation and Disease." The search for causes of disease in the biomedical sciences, we argue on the basis of the contributions to this conference, has not resulted in a simplification and unification…Read more
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28The cell as nexus: connections between the history, philosophy and science of cell biologyStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 41 (3): 169-171. 2010.Although the cell is commonly addressed as the unit of life, historians and philosophers have devoted relatively little attention to this concept in comparison to other fundamental concepts of biology such as the gene or species. As a partial remedy to this neglect, we introduce the cell as a major point of connection between various disciplinary approaches, epistemic strategies, technological vectors and overarching biological processes such as metabolism, growth, reproduction and evolution. We…Read more
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26Joining Lapland and the Topinambes in Flourishing Holland: Center and Periphery in Linnaean BotanyScience in Context 16 (4). 2003.
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26Philosophy of Biology Beyond Evolution: Philosophie der Biologie. Eine Einführung Ulrich Krohs and Georg Toepfer, eds Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 2005 (review)Biological Theory 2 (1): 111-112. 2007.
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26Of elephants and errors: naming and identity in Linnaean taxonomyHistory and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 42 (4): 1-34. 2020.What is it to make an error in the identification of a named taxonomic group? In this article we argue that the conditions for being in error about the identity of taxonomic groups through their names have a history, and that the possibility of committing such errors is contingent on the regime of institutions and conventions governing taxonomy and nomenclature at any given point in time. More specifically, we claim that taxonomists today can be in error about the identity of taxonomic groups in…Read more
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24Collection and collation: theory and practice of Linnaean botanyStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 38 (3): 541-562. 2007.
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23Hybrids, pure cultures, and pure lines: from nineteenth-century biology to twentieth-century geneticsStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 38 (4): 796-806. 2007.
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23Introduction (FOCUS: LISTMANIA)Isis 103 (4): 710-715. 2012.Anthropologists, linguists, cultural historians, and literary scholars have long emphasized the value of examining writing as a material practice and have often invoked the list as a paradigmatic example thereof. This Focus section explores how lists can open up fresh possibilities for research in the history of science. Drawing on examples from the early modern period, the contributors argue that attention to practices of list making reveals important relations between mercantile, administrativ…Read more
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21Hans-Jorg Rheinberger: temporality in the life sciences and beyondHistory and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 35 (1): 5-7. 2012.
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21Gene ConceptsIn Sahorta Sarkar & Anya Plutynski (eds.), Companion to the Philosophy of Biology, Blackwell. 2008.This chapter contains section titled: Introduction The Gene in Classical Genetics The Gene in Molecular Genetics The Gene in Evolution and Development Conclusion: Genes, Genomics, and Reduction Acknowledgement References Further Reading.
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20Justin E. H. Smith , The Problem of Animal Generation in Early Modern Philosophy. Cambridge Studies in Philosophy and Biology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. Pp. xiii+456. ISBN 978-0-521-84077-4. £45.00 (review)British Journal for the History of Science 40 (4). 2007.
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20Naturgeschichte und wissenschaftliche RevolutionNTM Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Wissenschaften, Technik und Medizin 17 (3): 329-338. 2009.
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19A translation of Carl Linnaeus’s introduction to Genera plantarum (1737)Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 38 (3): 563-572. 2007.
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19Lists as Research TechnologiesIsis 103 743-752. 2012.The Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus is famous for having turned botany into a systematic discipline, through his classification systems—most notably the sexual system—and his nomenclature. Throughout his life, Linnaeus experimented with various paper technologies designed to display information synoptically. The list took pride of place among these and is also the common element of more complex representations he produced, such as genera descriptions and his “natural system.” Taking clues from …Read more
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18Cell theory, specificity, and reproduction, 1837–1870Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 41 (3): 225-231. 2010.The cell is not only the structural, physiological, and developmental unit of life, but also the reproductive one. So far, however, this aspect of the cell has received little attention from historians and philosophers of biology. I will argue that cell theory had far-reaching consequences for how biologists conceptualized the reproductive relationships between germs and adult organisms. Cell theory, as formulated by Theodor Schwann in 1839, implied that this relationship was a specific and lawf…Read more
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18Zeugung, Entwicklung, Evolution: Neue Perspektiven in der Geschichte der LebenswissenschaftenNTM Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Wissenschaften, Technik und Medizin 16 (3): 399-404. 2008.
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18Race and History: Comments from an Epistemological Point of ViewScience, Technology, and Human Values 39 (4): 597-606. 2014.The historiography of race is usually framed by two discontinuities: the invention of race by European naturalists and anthropologists, marked by Carl Linnaeus’s Systema naturae and the demise of racial typologies after World War II in favor of population-based studies of human diversity. This framing serves a similar function as the quotation marks that almost invariably surround the term. “Race” is placed outside of rational discourse as a residue of outdated essentialist and hierarchical thin…Read more
Staffan Müller-Wille
Universität Zu Lübeck
Cambridge University
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Universität Zu LübeckHonorary Professor
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University of ExeterDepartment of Sociology, Philosophy and AnthropologyAssociate Professor (Part-time)
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Areas of Specialization
Philosophy of Biology |
Areas of Interest
Philosophy of Biology |
History of Western Philosophy, Misc |