by John Dupré
|
by Barry Barnes
|
by Harold J. Morowitz
|
by Nancy Cartwright
|
by John Dupre
|
|
Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Customers Viewing This Page May Be Interested in These Sponsored Links(What is this?) |
Product Description
Product Description
The idea of the gene has been a central organising theme in contemporary biology, and the Human Genome Project and biotechnological advances have put the gene in the media spotlight. In this book Lenny Moss reconstructs the history of the gene concept, placing it in the context of the perennial interplay between theories of preformationism and theories of epigenesis. He finds that there are not one, but two, fundamental - and fundamentally different - senses of "the gene" in scientific use: one the heir to preformationism and the other the heir to epigenesis. "Gene-P," the preformationist gene concept, serves as an instrumental predictor of phenotypic outcomes, whereas "Gene-D," the gene of epigenesis, is a developmental resource that specifies possible amino acid sequences for proteins. Moss argues that the popular idea that genes constitute blueprints for organisms is the result of an unwarranted conflation of these independently valid senses of the gene, and he analyses the rhetorical basis of this conflation. In the heart of the book, Moss uses the Gene-D/Gene-P distinction to examine the real basis of biological order and of the pathological loss of order in cancer. He provides a detailed analysis of the "order-from-order" role of cell membranes and compartmentalisation and considers dynamic approaches to biological order such as that of Stuart Kauffman. He reviews the history of cancer research with an emphasis on the oncogene and tumour suppresser gene models and shows how these gene-centred strategies point back to the significance of higher level, multicellular organisational fields in the onset and progression of cancer. Finally, Moss draws on the findings of the Human Genome Project, biological modularity and the growing interest in resynthesising theories of evolution and development to look beyond the "century of the gene" toward a rebirth of biological understanding.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
First Sentence
The gene, to say the very least, is a most peculiar member of our current molecular menagerie. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
The gene, to say the very least, is a most peculiar member of our current molecular menagerie. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Customer Reviews
|
There are no customer reviews yet.
|
|||
|
Video reviews
|
 |
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Health, Family & Lifestyle > Medical & Healthcare Practitioners
- Books > Science & Nature > Biological Sciences > Genetics
- Books > Science & Nature > Popular Science > Genetics
- Books > Scientific, Technical & Medical > Biology > Genetics > Genomics
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Academic Philosophy
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Philosophy
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
Your Recent History
(What's this?)|
After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. |
