Organization in Biology.

• Superior document: History, Philosophy and Theory of the Life Sciences Series ; v.33
• Author: Mossio, Matteo.
• Place / Publishing House: Cham : : Springer International Publishing AG,, 2023.; ©2024.
• Year of Publication: 2023
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Series: History, Philosophy and Theory of the Life Sciences Series
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (338 pages)

Table of Contents

Intro -- Organization in Biology -- Copyright -- Contents -- Chapter 1: Introduction: Organization as a Scientific Blind Spot -- 1.1 The Neglect of Organization -- 1.2 Organization as an Explanandum and an Explanans of Biology -- 1.3 The Anti-reductionist Trend in Evolutionary Biology -- 1.4 The Anti-reductionist Trend in Systems Biology -- 1.5 The Anti-reductionist Trend in the Origins of Life -- 1.6 What Is Organization? -- 1.7 Historical Overview -- 1.8 The Current Context, and The Place of the Book -- References -- Chapter 2: "Organization": Its Conceptual History and Its Relationship to Other Fundamental Biological Concepts -- 2.1 Introduction -- 2.2 The Conceptual History of "Organization" -- 2.3 The Meaning of "Organization" -- 2.4 "Organization" as One of the Three Basic Principles of Biology -- 2.5 Organization, Constraints, and Morphology -- References -- Chapter 3: Varieties of Organicism: A Critical Analysis -- 3.1 Organicism as Ontology, as Epistemology or as a Blurry Mix -- 3.2 A Current Organicist Consensus? -- 3.3 Organicism Strong and Weak, and the Ghost of Vitalism -- 3.4 Ontology and Ontologization -- 3.5 Conclusion -- References -- Chapter 4: Judging Organization: A Plea for Transcendental Logic in Philosophy of Biology -- 4.1 Introduction -- 4.2 Canguilhem's Theory of Judgment vis-à-vis Life -- 4.2.1 Canguilhem's Attitudinal Vitalism -- 4.2.2 Canguilhem's Theory of the "Broken Judgment" -- 4.2.3 Knowledge About Knowledge: Reflexivity and Reciprocity -- 4.2.4 Life and Logic -- 4.3 Kant's Theory of Judgment vis-à-vis Life -- 4.3.1 Logic as a Return Upon Unconsciously Operative Rules -- 4.3.2 Transcendental Logic: The Emulsifying Function of Judgment -- 4.3.3 The Life of the Reflecting Power of Judgment -- 4.3.4 The Organization of Judgment and/as Living Organization -- 4.4 Back to Attitudinal Vitalism -- 4.5 Conclusion.

References -- Chapter 5: On the Organizational Roots of Bio-cognition -- 5.1 Introduction -- 5.2 Characterizing Organization -- 5.3 N-organization and Bio-cognition -- 5.3.1 Autonomy, Agency (and Robotics), Auto(self)-directedness, and Anticipation -- 5.4 In Conclusion -- References -- Chapter 6: Does Organicism Really Need Organization? -- 6.1 Introduction -- 6.2 When Is Organicism? -- 6.2.1 Organization as a Mean to an End -- 6.2.2 Defining Organicism -- 6.3 Organicism and Emergence -- 6.3.1 Emergence and Organization* -- 6.3.2 Emergence and Transformation -- 6.4 Transformational Organicism and the Autonomy of Biology -- 6.4.1 Transformational Organicism Is Conceptually Sound -- 6.4.2 Is Transformational Organicism More than Just Conceptually Sound? -- 6.4.3 A Possible Objection and the Way Forward -- 6.5 Conclusion: The Good Fortune of Organicism -- References -- Chapter 7: Organisms: Between a Kantian Approach and a Liberal Approach -- 7.1 Making Sense of Organisms: The Kantian View -- 7.1.1 Purposiveness -- 7.1.2 Regulative Principle? -- 7.1.3 Natural Purposes and Self-Organization -- 7.2 Making Sense of Organisms? From Kant to the Modern Synthesis -- 7.2.1 Design Criterion -- 7.2.2 Epigeneticism Criterion -- 7.3 Evolutionary Individuals: A Liberal Approach Based on Conceptual Spaces -- 7.3.1 Transitions in Individuality -- 7.3.2 Conceptual Spaces: Being Liberal -- 7.3.3 Ecosystems, Individuals, and Organisms -- 7.4 Confronting the Approaches -- 7.4.1 Threshold Strategy -- 7.4.2 Pragmatic Strategy -- 7.5 Conclusion -- References -- Chapter 8: The Fourth Perspective: Evolution and Organismal Agency -- 8.1 Introduction -- 8.2 Organizational Closure and Continuity -- 8.3 Minimal Conditions for Darwinian Evolution by Natural Selection -- 8.4 Three Different Perspectives on the Evolutionary Causal Thicket.

8.5 Reproducers, Evolvability, and the Completion of the Life Cycle -- 8.6 Organization, Reproduction, Agency, and Minimal Evolution -- 8.7 The Fourth Perspective: An Agential Theory of Evolution -- 8.8 Conclusion -- References -- Chapter 9: On the Evolutionary Development of Biological Organization from Complex Prebiotic Chemistry -- 9.1 Introduction: Organization as an Explanatory Construct in Origins-of-Life Research -- 9.2 Organizational Accounts at the Onset of Prebiotic Evolution: Network Versus Protocell Models -- 9.2.1 Network Models -- 9.2.2 Protocell Models -- 9.3 The Interweaving of Organizational and Evolutionary Processes in Biogenesis: A Complementary but Causally Asymmetric Relationship -- 9.3.1 Trans-generational Constraints and the Expansion of Functional Space -- 9.4 "Dynamical Decoupling": A Key Principle to Understand the Evolutionary Development of Complex Material Organizations -- 9.5 Concluding Remarks -- References -- Chapter 10: Organization and Inheritance in Twenty-First-Century Evolutionary Biology -- 10.1 Introduction -- 10.2 Toward a More Organization-Centered Framework for Twenty-First-Century Evolutionary Biology -- 10.2.1 An Extended Evolutionary Synthesis to Fill in the Explanatory Gaps of the Gene-Centered Framework -- 10.2.2 Focus on Organisms and Introduction of an Organizational Thinking -- 10.2.3 From a Heuristic of Replication to a Heuristic of Collaboration -- 10.2.4 A Missing Organizational Perspective of Biological Inheritance? -- 10.3 An Organizational Perspective of Biological Inheritance -- 10.3.1 Principles of an Organizational Perspective of Biological Inheritance -- 10.3.2 Inheritance and Organization: Toward the Conception of Multifarious Heritable Variations -- 10.3.3 Inheritance and Organization: An Approach Suited to the Heuristic of Collaboration.

10.4 Explanatory Value and Theoretical Implications of an Organizational Perspective on Biological Inheritance for Evolutionary Thinking -- 10.4.1 Stabilization of Non-genetic Acquisitions and Evolution of Non-standard Biological Systems -- 10.4.2 Perspectives on Fitness, Natural Selection, and Evolution -- 10.5 Conclusion -- References -- Chapter 11: There Are No Intermediate Stages: An Organizational View on Development -- 11.1 Introduction -- 11.2 Puzzles and Challenges Within Theories of Development -- 11.2.1 Challenge 1: What Is Developmental Change, and Is It Restricted to Multicellular Organisms? -- 11.2.2 Challenge 2: Does Development Necessarily Start at Fertilization? -- 11.2.3 Challenge 3: Does Development Always Start at a Unicellular Bottleneck? -- 11.2.4 Challenge 4: Does Development Imply an Increase in Complexity? -- 11.2.5 Challenge 5: Does Development End at Reproductive Maturity? -- 11.2.6 Challenge 6: Are the Transitions Between Multicellular and Unicellular Forms in a Complex Life Cycle Development or Reproduction? -- 11.2.7 Challenge 7: Can Multispecies Assemblages Develop as One System? -- 11.3 Gestalt Switch: Adopting the Organizational Perspective -- 11.4 Toward an Organizational Account of Development -- 11.5 Conclusions -- References -- Chapter 12: Modeling Organogenesis from Biological First Principles -- 12.1 Introduction -- 12.2 Background Concepts -- 12.3 From Organicist Ideas to Principles for a Theory of Organisms -- 12.4 The Mammary Gland as an Organ Model for the Study of Morphogenesis -- 12.4.1 A 3D Culture Model for the Study of Mammary Gland Morphogenesis -- 12.5 From the 3D Culture Model to a Mathematical Model -- 12.5.1 Proliferation -- 12.5.2 Motility and Constraints to Motility -- 12.5.3 Determination of the System -- 12.6 Mathematical Model -- 12.6.1 Description of the Model.

12.6.2 Outcomes of the Mathematical Model -- 12.6.2.1 In a Globular Matrix -- 12.6.2.2 In a Fibrillar Matrix -- 12.7 The In Vitro System and the Organism -- 12.8 Conclusions -- References -- Chapter 13: From the Organizational Theory of Ecological Functions to a New Notion of Sustainability -- 13.1 Introduction -- 13.2 Philosophical Theories of Function and Their Approach to Teleology and Normativity -- 13.3 The Organizational Theory of Ecological Functions -- 13.4 Organizational Functions and the Individuation of Ecological Systems -- 13.4.1 Ascribing Organizational Functions in Non-equilibrium Ecology -- 13.4.2 On the Domain of the Organizational Theory of Ecological Functions -- 13.4.3 Modularity Analysis and the Identification of Ecological Systems Showing Tendency to Closure -- 13.5 Organizational Functions and Evolution -- 13.6 Ascribing Functions to Abiotic Items -- 13.7 A Word on Pluralism About Ecological Functions -- 13.8 From Organizational Functions to an Integrated Scientific and Ethical Approach to Sustainability -- 13.9 Concluding Remarks -- References -- Index.