Genes in Development: Re-reading the Molecular Paradigm (Science and Cultural Theory) [Hardcover]

Eva M. Neumann-Held (Editor), Christoph Rehmann-Sutter (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Science and Cultural Theory | Publication Date: December 1, 2005

In light of scientific advances such as genomics, predictive diagnostics, genetically engineered agriculture, nuclear transfer cloning, and the manipulation of stem cells, the idea that genes carry predetermined molecular programs or blueprints is pervasive. Yet new scientific discoveries—such as rna transcripts of single genes that can lead to the production of different compounds from the same pieces of dna—challenge the concept of the gene alone as the dominant factor in biological development. Increasingly aware of the tension between certain empirical results and interpretations of those results based on the orthodox view of genetic determinism, a growing number of scientists urge a rethinking of what a gene is and how it works. In this collection, a group of internationally renowned scientists present some prominent alternative approaches to understanding the role of dna in the construction and function of biological organisms.

Contributors discuss alternatives to the programmatic view of dna, including the developmental systems approach, methodical culturalism, the molecular process concept of the gene, the hermeneutic theory of description, and process structuralist biology. None of the approaches cast doubt on the notion that dna is tremendously important to biological life on earth; rather, contributors examine different ideas of how dna should be represented, evaluated, and explained. Just as ideas about genetic codes have reached far beyond the realm of science, the reconceptualizations of genetic theory in this volume have broad implications for ethics, philosophy, and the social sciences.

Contributors. Thomas Bürglin, Brian C. Goodwin, James Griesemer, Paul Griffiths, Jesper Hoffmeyer, Evelyn Fox Keller, Gerd B. Müller, Eva M. Neumann-Held, Stuart A. Newman, Susan Oyama, Christoph Rehmann-Sutter, Sahotra Sarkar, Jackie Leach Scully, Gerry Webster, Ulrich Wolf

Editorial Reviews

Review

“The rich scientific knowledge about the genetic basis of life and it complex involvement in the life of individuals and populations is highly relevant to our worldview. Genes in Development helps to bring understandings of the conceptual and philosophical implications of molecular genetics up to date.”—Werner Arber, Nobel Laureate in Medicine and Emeritus Professor of Molecular Microbiology, University of Basel

“Together the essays in Genes in Development give lively voice to many of the current alternatives to genetic reductionism. Well-known figures from the debates of the past two decades are represented alongside a good number of emerging scholars.”—Hans-Jörg Rheinberger, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin

From the Publisher

"Together the essays in Genes in Development give lively voice to many of the current alternatives to genetic reductionism. Well-known figures from the debates of the past two decades are represented alongside a good number of emerging scholars."—Hans-Jörg Rheinberger, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Duke University Press Books (December 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0822336561
• ISBN-13: 978-0822336563
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,676,569 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5.0 out of 5 stars Evo-devo gets serious, May 27, 2009

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This review is from: Genes in Development: Re-reading the Molecular Paradigm (Science and Cultural Theory) (Paperback)

Phylogeny must stand in some relation to ontogeny, less close than recapitulation, but closer than both being merely processes that unfold over time. Evolutionists have tended to neglect how genotypic changes come to be reflected in how phenotypic origins, while developmentalists have tended to neglect how phenotypic gradients are actually brought about by genetic alterations. The papers in this volume attack various aspects of this set of problems, and in so doing, enrich our notions of both phylogenesis and ontogenesis, with the prospect of readying each for viable models of how the two interrelate.