Philosophy of immunology /

Philosophy of immunology / / Thomas Pradeu.

Immunology is central to contemporary biology and medicine, but it also provides novel philosophical insights. Its most significant contribution to philosophy concerns the understanding of biological individuality: what a biological individual is, what makes it unique, how its boundaries are establi...

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Bibliographic Details
Superior document:Cambridge elements. Elements in the philosophy of biology, 2515-1126
VerfasserIn:
Pradeu, Thomas,
Place / Publishing House:Cambridge : : Cambridge University Press,, 2019.
Year of Publication:2019
Language:English
Series:Cambridge elements. Elements in the philosophy of biology,
Physical Description:1 online resource (83 pages) :; digital, PDF file(s).
Notes:Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 29 Jan 2020).
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Table of Contents:
  • Cover
  • Title page
  • Copyright page
  • Philosophy of Immunology
  • Contents
  • 1 Introduction: The Centrality of Immunity in Biology and Medicine
  • 2 Immunity: A Matter of Defense?
  • 2.1 Historically, Immunity Has Been Understood As the Capacity of an Organism to Defend Itself against Pathogens
  • 2.2 Defensive Immune Mechanisms Have Been Identified in Virtually All Living Things
  • 2.3 Extended Immunity: Immunity Goes Well Beyond Defense
  • 2.4 Accounting for the Evolution of Immunological Processes and Attributing a Function to the Immune System Have Become Difficult
  • 2.5 Is It Still Possible to Offer a Precise and Simple Definition of Immunity?
  • 3 The Unity of the Individual: Self-Nonself, Autoimmunity, Tolerance, and Symbiosis
  • 3.1 From Early Reflections about Immunological Individuality to the Concepts of "Self" and "Nonself"
  • 3.2 Autoimmunity, Tolerance, and Symbiotic Interactions with Microbes
  • 3.3 Immunology's Contribution to the Definition of Biological Individuality
  • 3.4 The Role of the Immune System in Turning a Set of Heterogeneous Constituents into an Integrated Individual
  • 3.5 Combining Different Approaches to Biological Individuality
  • 4 Cancer as a Deunification of the Individual
  • 4.1 How the Immune System Restrains Cancer: The Complex History of the Idea of Immunosurveillance
  • 4.2 The Dual Action of the Immune System in Both Restraining and Promoting Cancer: Immunoediting and Beyond
  • 4.3 Immune-Cancer Interactions: Current Views and Clinical Applications
  • 4.4 Role of the Immune System in the Breakdown of Biological Individuality That Characterizes Cancer
  • 5 Neuroimmunology: The Intimate Dialogue between the Nervous System and the Immune System
  • 5.1 From Psychoneuroimmunology and Neuroimmunology to Present-Day Characterizations of the Dialogue between the Nervous and the Immune Systems.
  • 5.2 Interactions between the Nervous and the Immune System in Health
  • 5.3 Interactions between the Nervous and the Immune System in Pathological Contexts
  • 5.4 Mapping the Different Conceptual Questions Raised by Neuroimmunology
  • 5.4.1 Interaction: How Do the Nervous and the Immune System Interact?
  • 5.4.2 Similarity: Are the Nervous and the Immune System Structurally and/or Functionally Similar?
  • 5.4.3 Overlap: To What Extent Do the Nervous and the Immune System Overlap or Even Constitute a Single System?
  • 5.4.4 Origins: Do the Nervous and the Immune System Share Evolutionary Origins?
  • 5.4.5 Control: Does the Nervous System Control the Immune System or the Other Way Around?
  • 5.5 Conclusion: Some Philosophical Consequences
  • References
  • Acknowledgments.

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