Biological Individuality: The Identity and Persistence of Living Entities (Cambridge Studies in Philosophy and Biology) - Softcover

Wilson, Jack

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521036887 ISBN 13: 9780521036887

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2007

Synopsis

What makes a biological entity an individual? Jack Wilson shows that past philosophers have failed to explicate the conditions an entity must satisfy to be a living individual. He explores the reason for this failure and explains why we should limit ourselves to examples involving real organisms rather than thought experiments. This book explores and resolves paradoxes that arise when one applies past notions of individuality to biological examples beyond the conventional range and presents an analysis of identity and persistence. The book's main purpose is to bring together two lines of research, theoretical biology and metaphysics, which have dealt with the same subject in isolation from one another. Wilson explains an alternative theory about biological individuality which solves problems which cannot be addressed by either field alone. He presents a more fine-grained vocabulary of individuation based on diverse kinds of living things, allowing him to clarify previously muddled disputes about individuality in biology.

About this title

Book Description

What makes a biological entity an individual? Jack Wilson shows that past philosophers have failed to explicate the conditions an entity must satisfy to be a living individual. This book explores and resolves paradoxes that arise when one applies past notions of individuality to biological examples beyond the conventional range.

About the Author

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Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0521036887
• ISBN 13: 9780521036887
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 152