The Life Organic: The Theoretical Biology Club and the Roots of Epigenetics

by Erik L. Peterson

Overview

As scientists debated the nature of life in the nineteenth century, two theories predominated: vitalism, which suggested that living things contained a “vital spark,” and mechanism, the idea that animals and humans differed from nonliving things only in their degree of complexity. Erik Peterson tells the forgotten story of the pursuit of a “third way’ in biology, known by many names, including “the organic philosophy,” which gave rise to C. H. Waddington’s work in the subfield of epigenetics: an alternative to standard genetics and evolutionary biology that captured the attention of notable scientists from Francis Crick to Stephen Jay Gould. The Life Organic chronicles the influential biologists, mathematicians, philosophers, and biochemists from both sides of the Atlantic who formed Joseph Needham’s Theoretical Biology Club, defined and refined “third way” thinking through the 1930s, and laid the groundwork for some of the most cutting-edge achievements in biology today. By tracing the persistence of organicism into the twenty-first century, this book also raises significant questions about how we should model the development of the discipline of biology going forward.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780822944669
Publisher:	University of Pittsburgh Press
Publication date:	01/13/2017
Edition description:	1
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Erik L. Peterson is assistant professor of history at the University of Alabama.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments xv

Introduction 3

1 The First Generation of Organicists 15

2 Needham's Revival of Mechanism 42

3 Socrates and the Principia Bio toga 56

4 The Tipping Point 81

5 Waddington and the Organizer 93

6 The Original Theoretical Biology Club 104

7 Large Plans versus the Ultimate Littleness of Things 117

8 As Many Opinions as There Are Men 127

9 "Off in all directions like an expanding universe" 141

10 Mechanism Reduced to Molecules 159

11 The Lysenko Morality Tale and the Epigenetic Landscape 172

12 Ernst Mayrs Neo-Darwinism, and Beanbag Genetics 189

13 History of Science Is Written by the Laureates 200

14 The 1960s Reincarnation of the Debate 211

15 The Conventional Wisdom of the Dominant Group, or COWDUNG 226

Conclusion: A Third Way after Waddington? 234

Notes 261

Bibliography 295

Index 321

Editorial Reviews

This is an excellent history of a debate that continues today. . . . The Life Organic is an excellent tour of the evolution of "reductionist" and "systems" approaches to biology in the 20th century.” 
—Choice

"A handful of scholars have considered the place of organicism in biology, but until now no one has offered an extended treatment of the rise of organicist thinking, or its later decline. This book has undertaken an ambitious and far-reaching survey of debates among vitalists, mechanists, and organicists from the nineteenth through the twentieth century—a formidable task, but one that will be of interest to many scholars in the history and philosophy of biology, and within biology itself."
—Michael R. Dietrich, Dartmouth College

"The Life Organic is a monumental tour through the history of the organic philosophy—the belief that phenomena of life exhibit higher-order modes of organization rather than simply being the sum of their parts. The author convincingly argues that organicism (in contrast to the more popular philosophical and empirical reductionism) remains one of the ‘fundamental philosophical questions’ in the life sciences—along with mechanism versus vital forces, preformation versus epigenesis—and continues to motivate certain scientists. It is an outstanding book that will easily become the classic source on organicism and epigenesis."
—Marsha Richmond, Wayne State University


"Peterson has made an important contribution to the literature on twentieth century organicism, and one that no one interested in the subject can afford to ignore.  Historians, philosophers, and biologists will all find something to enjoy (and to disagree with) in this book."
—Journal of the History of Biology 


". . .the most comprehensive engagement of organicist thought from one source in the almost half century since Donna Haraway’s
(1976) touchstone Crystals Fabrics, and Fields. . . . the book’s overall value to the community is substantial."
—Daniel S. Brooks, History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences

From the Publisher