Defending Life: The Nature of Host-Parasite Relations - Hardcover

Ulvestad, Elling

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1402056753 ISBN 13: 9781402056758

Publisher: Springer, 2007

Synopsis

Defending Life discusses the relationship between hosts and parasites. It contains detailed descriptions of the immune system and the microbial world as well as methodological and conceptual clarifications. Its emphasis on analytical abstractions, coherent patterns and generative mechanisms makes possible the distinction between genuine causality and coincidental associations and increases the understanding of why we observe what we observe.

About this title

Review:

From the reviews:

"Defending Life is one of the serious efforts to understand the science of immunology theoretically ... . This book is not only an important contribution towards understanding the restrictions under which immunology now functions, but it provocatively suggests how the discipline might reorient itself to address more effectively not only the molecular mechanisms of immune reactions, but also their regulations and organization. ... a propitious step towards the full adoption of immunology by philosophy of biology as a member in good standing." (Alfred I. Tauber, Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, Vol. 51 (2), 2008)

Synopsis:

"Defending Life" discusses the relationship between hosts and parasites. A major contention of the book is that the immune system depends ontologically on the ecosystem in which it is embedded; it would not have the features it has if it was not related in one way or other to parasitic agents and to the host's own cells and tissues. To sustain the argument, life is investigated at all layers - from molecules up through cells, organisms and ecosystems. Together with the inverse course, which goes from ecological contingencies down to gene-expression profiles, the approach facilitates an advanced understanding of immunocompetence as well as its converse, immunoincompetence. The emphasis on analytical abstractions, coherent patterns and generative mechanisms makes possible the distinction between genuine causality and coincidental associations, and thus increases the understanding of why we observe what we observe. The book contains detailed descriptions of the immune system and the microbial world as well as methodological and conceptual clarifications.

It will be of interest not only to biologists, medical scientists, physicians and philosophers of science, but also microbiologists and immunologists. Many of the discussions are also relevant for students at both the graduate and PhD levels.

About this edition

• Publisher: Springer
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1402056753
• ISBN 13: 9781402056758
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 260