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7Frédéric Bouchard Département de Philosophie, Université de Montreal & Centre interuniversitaireIn Frédéric Bouchard & Philippe Huneman (eds.), From Groups to Individuals: Evolution and Emerging Individuality, Mit Press. pp. 265. 2013.
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22Critically assessing atavism, an evolution‐centered and deterministic hypothesis on cancerBioessays 46 (6): 2300221. 2024.Cancer is most commonly viewed as resulting from somatic mutations enhancing proliferation and invasion. Some hypotheses further propose that these new capacities reveal a breakdown of multicellularity allowing cancer cells to escape proliferation and cooperation control mechanisms that were implemented during evolution of multicellularity. Here we critically review one such hypothesis, named “atavism,” which puts forward the idea that cancer results from the re‐expression of normally repressed …Read more
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51Reuniting philosophy and science to advance cancer researchBiological Reviews 98 (5): 1668-1686. 2023.Cancers rely on multiple, heterogeneous processes at different scales, pertaining to many biomedical fields. Therefore, understanding cancer is necessarily an interdisciplinary task that requires placing specialised experimental and clinical research into a broader conceptual, theoretical, and methodological framework. Without such a framework, oncology will collect piecemeal results, with scant dialogue between the different scientific communities studying cancer. We argue that one important wa…Read more
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15Redrawing therapeutic boundaries: microbiota and cancerTrends in Cancer 8 (2): 87-97. 2022.The unexpected roles of the microbiota in cancer challenge explanations of carcinogenesis that focus on tumor-intrinsic properties. Most tumors contain bacteria and viruses, and the host’s proximal and distal microbiota influence both cancer incidence and therapeutic responsiveness. Continuing the history of cancer–microbe research, these findings raise a key question: to what extent is the microbiota relevant for clinical oncology? We approach this by critically evaluating three issues: how the…Read more
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3Jean Gayon, History and Philosophy of Biology: A New SynthesisIn Pierre-Olivier Méthot (ed.), Philosophy, History and Biology: Essays in Honour of Jean Gayon, Springer Verlag. pp. 63-77. 2023.In this contribution, I show that Jean Gayon’s work operates an original synthesis between the history of scienceHistory of science, the philosophy of science and the life sciences. I propose that the philosophy of biology as it has been constructed since the 1970s could usefully draw inspiration from this synthesis to develop a much richer and more open analysis of current biological sciences. While the philosophy of biology is very strongly dominated by the biology of evolution, the history of…Read more
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19Host-Microbiota Co-immunity: An Intimate Relationship That Goes Beyond ProtectionPhilosophy, Theory, and Practice in Biology 14 (3). 2022.Resident microorganisms, known as the microbiota, are essential for many physiological functions including protection against pathogens. Microbiota is indeed required for proper immune system development and function, and can also host-independently protect against infections. Thus, a co-constructed view of host protection involving both host and microbiota, named ’co-immunity,’ has been proposed, and the idea of an ’immunological holobiont’ has been suggested. Yet this view of co-immunity might…Read more
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Immunity and the emergence of individualityIn Frédéric Bouchard & Philippe Huneman (eds.), From Groups to Individuals: Evolution and Emerging Individuality, Mit Press. 2013.
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25Cancer's second genome: Microbial cancer diagnostics and redefining clonal evolution as a multispecies processBioessays 44 (5): 2100252. 2022.The presence and role of microbes in human cancers has come full circle in the last century. Tumors are no longer considered aseptic, but implications for cancer biology and oncology remain underappreciated. Opportunities to identify and build translational diagnostics, prognostics, and therapeutics that exploit cancer's second genome—the metagenome—are manifold, but require careful consideration of microbial experimental idiosyncrasies that are distinct from host‐centric methods. Furthermore, t…Read more
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118Philosophy in Science: Can philosophers of science permeate through science and produce scientific knowledge?British Journal for the Philosophy of Science. forthcoming.
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97The visibility of philosophy of science in the sciences, 1980–2018Synthese 199 (3-4): 1-31. 2021.In this paper, we provide a macro level analysis of the visibility of philosophy of science in the sciences over the last four decades. Our quantitative analysis of publications and citations of philosophy of science papers, published in 17 main journals representing the discipline, contributes to the longstanding debate on the influence of philosophy of science on the sciences. It reveals the global structure of relationships that philosophy of science maintains with science, technology, engine…Read more
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26Une objectivité kaléidoscopique : construire l'image scientifique du mondePhilosophie 110 (3): 46-71. 2011.Dans Science, Perception and Reality, Sellars distingue l’image manifeste de l’homme et l’image scientifique de l’homme. La première est obtenue à partir de la façon dont nous prenons conscience de nous-mêmes comme humains dans le monde. La seconde correspond à ce que les différentes sciences nous amènent à postuler sur la manière dont l’homme est constitué. Van Fraassen, lui, étend au monde ces concepts...
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97Understanding viruses: Philosophical investigationsStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 59 57-63. 2016.Viruses have been virtually absent from philosophy of biology. In this editorial introduction, we explain why we think viruses are philosophically important. We focus on six issues, and we show how they relate to classic questions of philosophy of biology and even general philosophy.
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296Understanding Multicellularity: The Functional Organization of the Intercellular SpaceFrontiers in Physiology 10. 2019.The aim of this paper is to provide a theoretical framework to understand how multicellular systems realize functionally integrated physiological entities by organizing their intercellular space. From a perspective centered on physiology and integration, biological systems are often characterized as organized in such a way that they realize metabolic self-production and self-maintenance. The existence and activity of their components rely on the network they realize and on the continuous managem…Read more
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20Philosophy of ImmunologyCambridge University Press. 2020.Immunology is central to contemporary biology and medicine, but it also provides novel philosophical insights. Its most significant contribution to philosophy concerns the understanding of biological individuality: what a biological individual is, what makes it unique, how its boundaries are established and what ensures its identity through time. Immunology also offers answers to some of the most interesting philosophical questions. What is the definition of life? How are bodily systems delineat…Read more
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74The Boundaries of DevelopmentBiological Theory 6 (1). 2011.This special issue of Biological Theory is focused on development; it raises the problem of the temporal and spatial boundaries of development. From a temporal point of view, when does development start and stop? From a spatial point of view, what is it exactly that "develops", and is it possible to delineate clearly the developing entity? This issue explores the possible answers to these questions, and thus sheds light on the definition of development itself
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28Philosophy of CRISPR-Cas: Introduction to Eugene Koonin’s target paper and commentariesBiology and Philosophy 34 (1): 16. 2019.In this commentary of Koonin’s target paper, we defend an extended view of CRISPR-Cas immunity by arguing that CRISPR-Cas includes, but cannot be reduced to, defence against nonself. CRISPR-Cas systems can target endogenous elements and tolerate exogenous elements. We conclude that the vocabulary of “defence” and “nonself” might be misleading when describing CRISPR-Cas systems.
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94Genidentity and Biological ProcessesIn Daniel J. Nicholson & John Dupré (eds.), Everything Flows: Towards a Processual Philosophy of Biology, Oxford University Press. 2018.A crucial question for a process view of life is how to identify a process and how to follow it through time. The genidentity view can contribute decisively to this project. It says that the identity through time of an entity X is given by a well-identified series of continuous states of affairs. Genidentity helps address the problem of diachronic identity in the living world. This chapter describes the centrality of the concept of genidentity for David Hull and proposes an extension of Hull’s v…Read more
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55CRISPR-Cas immunity: beyond nonself and defenceBiology and Philosophy 34 (1): 6. 2019.In this commentary of Koonin’s target paper, we defend an extended view of CRISPR-Cas immunity by arguing that CRISPR-Cas includes, but cannot be reduced to, defence against nonself. CRISPR-Cas systems can target endogenous elements and tolerate exogenous elements. We conclude that the vocabulary of “defence” and “nonself” might be misleading when describing CRISPR-Cas systems.
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3Introduction. Progressive Steps toward a Unified Conception of Individuality across the SciencesIn Thomas Pradeu & Alexandre Guay (eds.), Individuals Across The Sciences, Oxford University Press. pp. 1-21. 2016.This chapter introduces the main issues and themes of the volume. Approaches to individuality from metaphysics and philosophy of science are contrasted. Recent philosophical developments regarding concepts of biological and physical individuality are exposed. These research trends show how philosophy of physics and philosophy of biology address differently the question of what an individual is. Five main divergences are identified: the centrality of part-whole questions, the issue of identical i…Read more
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437Ontologies of Living Beings: IntroductionPhilosophy, Theory, and Practice in Biology 9 (4). 2017.Part of a special issue, Ontologies of Living Beings, guest-edited by A. M. Ferner and Thomas Pradeu
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206Right out of the box: how to situate metaphysics of science in relation to other metaphysical approachesSynthese 197 (5): 1847-1866. 2020.Several advocates of the lively field of “metaphysics of science” have recently argued that a naturalistic metaphysics should be based solely on current science, and that it should replace more traditional, intuition-based, forms of metaphysics. The aim of the present paper is to assess that claim by examining the relations between metaphysics of science and general metaphysics. We show that the current metaphysical battlefield is richer and more complex than a simple dichotomy between “metaphys…Read more
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69Thirty years of Biology & Philosophy: philosophy of which biology?Biology and Philosophy 32 (2): 149-167. 2017.Which domains of biology do philosophers of biology primarily study? The fact that philosophy of biology has been dominated by an interest for evolutionary biology is widely admitted, but it has not been strictly demonstrated. Here I analyse the topics of all the papers published in Biology & Philosophy, just as the journal celebrates its thirtieth anniversary. I then compare the distribution of biological topics in Biology & Philosophy with that of the scientific journal Proceedings of the Nati…Read more
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341Protective Microbiota: From Localized to Long-Reaching Co-ImmunityFrontiers Immunology 8 1678. 2017.Resident microbiota do not just shape host immunity, they can also contribute to host protection against pathogens and infectious diseases. Previous reviews of the protective roles of the microbiota have focused exclusively on colonization resistance localized within a microenvironment. This review shows that the protection against pathogens also involves the mitigation of pathogenic impact without eliminating the pathogens (i.e., “disease tolerance”) and the containment of microorganisms to pre…Read more
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120Organisms or biological individuals? Combining physiological and evolutionary individualityBiology and Philosophy 31 (6): 797-817. 2016.The definition of biological individuality is one of the most discussed topics in philosophy of biology, but current debate has focused almost exclusively on evolution-based accounts. Moreover, several participants in this debate consider the notions of a biological individual and an organism as equivalent. In this paper, I show that the debates would be considerably enriched and clarified if philosophers took into account two elements. First, physiological fields are crucial for the understandi…Read more
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Lâimmunité et lâinteractionnisme biologiquele Tout Et les Parties Dans les Systèmes Naturels, Paris, Vuibert. forthcoming.
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48The Speed of Change: Towards a Discontinuity Theory of Immunity?Nature Reviews Immunology 13 (10). 2013.Immunology — though deeply experimental in everyday practice — is also a theoretical discipline. Recent advances in the understanding of innate immunity, how it is triggered and how it shares features that have previously been uniquely ascribed to the adaptive immune system, can contribute to the refinement of the theoretical framework of immunology. In particular, natural killer cells and macrophages are activated by transient modifications, but adapt to long-lasting modifications that occur in…Read more
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39Darwinian Populations and Natural Selection, by Peter Godfrey-SmithMind 120 (479): 863-870. 2011.
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4L'individu: Perspectives ContemporainesVrin. 2008.Qu'est-ce qu'un individu? Tentative de réponse grâce aux apports de la métaphysique, de la philosophie du langage, de la philosophie des sciences du vivant, de la philosophie des sciences cognitives, de la philosophie politique et de la philosophie des sciences sociales.
Thomas Pradeu
CNRS & University Of Bordeaux
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CNRS & University Of BordeauxProfessor
Areas of Specialization
Philosophy of Biology |
General Philosophy of Science |
Science, Logic, and Mathematics |