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Index
Cover
What Makes Biology Unique?
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
The object of each chapter
Chapter 3 -Teleology
Chapter 5 -Darwin's influence on modern thought
Chapter 8 -Selection
Chapter 10 -Another look at the species problem
Chapter 12 -Are we alone in this vast universe?
1 Science and Sciences
Physicalism
A proliferation of sciences
Why is biology different?
LITERATURE CITED
2 The Autonomy of Biology
The refutation of certain erroneous basic assumptions
Teleology
What is biology?
The emergence of modern biology
Physicalist ideas not applicable to biology
Autonomous characteristics of biology
The complexity of living systems
Evolutionary biology is a historical science
Chance
Holistic thinking
Limitation to the mesocosmos
Can an autonomous biology be unified with physics?
The importance of biology for the understanding of humans
3 Teleology
Three concepts of the world
Categories of teleology
Teleomatic processes
Teleonomic processes
Purposive behavior in thinking organisms
Cosmic teleology
The current status of teleology
Teleology and evolution
4 Analysis or Reductionism?
Kinds of reduction
Analysis
Explanatory reduction
Emergence
Theory reduction
Consequences of the failure of reductionism
Reduction and philosophy
5 Darwin’s Influence on Modern Thought
The first Darwinian revolution
Darwin's contributions to a new Zeitgeist
Secular science
Common descent and humans' position
Population thinking
The genetic program
Finalism
The role of chance
Laws
Darwin's method
Time
Summary
6 Darwin’s Five Theories of Evolution
Evolution as such
Gradualism versus saltationism
The multiplication of species
Natural selection
The varying fates of Darwin's five theories
7 Maturation of Darwinism
Stages in the maturation of Darwinism
1900–1909
1910–1932
The explanation of the origin of biodiversity
1937–1947
1950–2000
The robustness of the current Darwinian paradigm
The Darwinism of the present
8 Selection
What is selection?
Natural selection, a two-step process
Selection for reproductive success
Levels of selection
The objects of selection
The gene
The gamete
The object of selection, individual or gene?
Kin selection
Selection at higher levels
Terms for the objects of selection
Vehicle
Interactor
Selection of and selection for
9 Do Thomas Kuhn’s Scientific Revolutions Take Place?
10 Another Look at the Species Problem
What is the nature of the problem?
Species concepts
The biological species concept
The ecological species concept
11 The Origin of Humans
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