Thinking about Evolution
Historical, Philosophical, and Political Perspectives

This 2001 text is the second of two volumes published by Cambridge University Press in honour of Richard Lewontin.

Rama S. Singh (Edited by), Costas B. Krimbas (Edited by), Diane B. Paul (Edited by), John Beatty (Edited by)

9780521620703, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 20 November 2000

600 pages
24.1 x 16.3 x 3.5 cm, 1 kg

"The scope and themes of the essays in this volume are a fitting honor to Richard Lewontin...More than 25 essays address the social science aspects of Lewontin's field(s) of experience" SB&F July/August 2001

Originally published in 2001, this is the second of two volumes published by Cambridge University Press in honour of Richard Lewontin. This second volume of essays honours the philosophical, historical and political dimensions of his work. It is fitting that the volume covers such a wide range of perspectives on modern biology, given the range of Lewontin's own contributions. He is not just a very successful practitioner of evolutionary genetics, but a rigorous critic of the practices of genetics and evolutionary biology and an articulate analyst of the social, political and economic contexts and consequences of genetic and evolutionary research. The volume begins with an essay by Lewontin on Natural History and Formalism in Evolutionary Genetics, and includes contributions by former students, post-docs, colleagues and collaborators, which cover issues ranging from the history and conceptual foundations of evolutionary biology and genetics, to the implications of human genetic diversity.

Preface
Introduction
1. Does culture evolve? Richard Lewontin
Part A. History of and in Evolutionary Biology: 2. The nature of evolutionary biology: an interchange among Richard Lewontin, Diane Paul, John Beatty and Costas Krimbas
3. Hannah Arendt and Karl Popper: Darwinism, Fatalism and Totalitarianism John Beatty
4. The genetics of experimental populations: L'Heritier and Teisser's population cages Jean Gayon and Michel Veuille
5. Did eugenics rest on an elementary mistake? Diane Paul and Hamish Spencer
6. Can the norm of reaction save the gene concept? Rafi Falk
7. The apportionment of human diversity twenty-five years later Maryellen Ruvolo and Mark Seielstad
8. The Indian caste system: origin, evolution and impact on human diversity Rama Singh
Part B. Philosophy of Evolutionary Biology: 9. Selfish genes or developmental systems? Russel Gray
10. The evolutionary definition of selective agency, the validation of the theory of hierarchical selection, and the fallacy of the selfish gene Stephen J. Gould
11. Reductionism in genetics and the human genome project Sahotra Sarkar
12. Organism and environment Peter Godfrey-Smith
13. Levels and units of selection Lisa Lloyd
14. In defense of neo-Darwinism: Popper's 'Darwinism as a metaphysical programme' revisited Costas Krimbas
15. The two faces of fitness Elliot Sober
16. Evolvability: adaptation and modularity Jeffrey C. Schank and Bill Wimsatt
17. Organism and environment revisited Robert Brandon
18. An 'irreducible' component of cognition Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini
Part C. The Politics of Evolutionary Biology: 19. What causes cancer? A political history of recent debates Robert Proctor
20. Battling the undead: how (and how not) to resist genetic determinism Philip Kitcher
21. The rise of neurogenetic determinism Steven Rose
22. Behavior genetics: Galen's prophecy or Malpighi's legacy? Evan Balaban
23. Identity politics and biology Ruth Hubbard
24. The agroecosystem: the modern vision in crisis, the alternative evolving John Vandermeer
25. Political economy of agricultural genetics Jean-Pierre Berlan
26. The butterfly ex machina Richard Levins
27. Evoking transmutational dread: military and civilian uses of nuclear and genetic alchemies Robert Haynes
28. From natural selection to natural construction to disciplining unruly complexity: the challenge of integrating ecological dynamics into evolutionary theory Peter Taylor.

Subject Areas: Genetics [non-medical PSAK], Evolution [PSAJ], Ecological science, the Biosphere [PSAF]