A collection of essays investigating key historical and scientific questions relating to the concept of natural purpose in Kant's philosophy of biology. Understanding Purpose is an exploration of the central concept of natural purpose [Naturzweck] in Kant's philosophy of biology. Kant's work in this area is marked by a strong teleological concern: living organisms, in his view, are qualitatively different from mechanistic devices, and as a result they cannot be understood by means of the same principles. At the same time, Kant's own use of the concept of purpose does not presuppose any theological commitments, and is merely "regulative"; that is, it is employed as a heuristic device. The contributors to this volume also investigate the following key historical questions relating to Kant's philosophy of biology: How does it relate to European work in the life sciences that was done before Kant arrived on the scene? How did Kant's unique approach to the philosophy of biology in turn influence later work in this area? The issues explored in this volume are as pertinent to the history of philosophy as they are to the history of science -- it is precisely the blurred boundaries between these two disciplines that allows for new perspectives on Kantianism and early nineteenth-century German biology to emerge. Contributors: Jean-Claude Dupont, Mark Fisher, Philippe Huneman, Robert J. Richards, Phillip R. Sloan, Stephane Schmitt, and John Zammito. Philippe Huneman is researcher at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique Unit of the Universite Paris.

This collection of essays originated in conferences held at the Gregorian University in Rome and at the University of Notre Dame to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species. These essays, by leading scholars, assess the continuing relevance of Darwin's work from the perspectives of biological science, history, philosophy, and theology. The contributors focus on three primary areas: developments in evolutionary biology that open up new ground for interdisciplinary dialogue; reflections on human evolution, with a particular focus on evolution and ethics; and new reflections on theology and evolution, particularly from a Roman Catholic perspective, drawing both on traditional perspectives and on new currents in Catholic theology. Contributors: Phillip R. Sloan, Gerald McKenny, Kathleen Eggleson, Scott F. Gilbert, Stuart A. Newman, Alessandro Minelli, David J. Depew, Gennaro Auletta, Ivan Colage, Paolo D'Ambrosio, Bernard Wood, Robert J. Richards, Paul E. Griffiths, John S. Wilkins, John O'Callaghan, William E. Carroll, Jozef Zycinski, Celia Deane-Drummond, Peter J. Bowler, and Jean Gayon.

In 1935 geneticist Nikolai Timofeeff-Ressovsky, radiation physicist Karl G. Zimmer, and quantum physicist Max Delbruck published "On the Nature of Gene Mutation and Gene Structure," known subsequently as the "Three-Man Paper." This seminal paper advanced work on the physical exploration of the structure of the gene through radiation physics and suggested ways in which physics could reveal definite information about gene structure, mutation, and action. Representing a new level of collaboration between physics and biology, it played an important role in the birth of the new field of molecular biology. The paper's results were popularized for a wide audience in the "What is Life?" lectures of physicist Erwin Schrodinger in 1944. Despite its historical impact on the biological sciences, the paper has remained largely inaccessible because it was only published in a short-lived German periodical. "Creating a Physical Biology "makes the Three Man Paper available in English for the first time. Brandon Fogel's translation is accompanied by an introductory essay by Fogel and Phillip Sloan and a set of essays by leading historians and philosophers of biology that explore the context, contents, and subsequent influence of the paper, as well as its importance for the wider philosophical analysis of biological reductionism.

This work considers the complex, far reaching issues surrounding the Human Genome Project - an international scientific enterprise aimed at attaining a complete sequence and locator map of the human genetic structure by the year 2005 - offering the elimination of genetic abnormalities and diseases.

This scholarly and conscientious book makes an important . . . contribution to the study and interpretation of Buffon, and so, too, to the Enlightenment generally. What Lyon and Sloan have done is present English texts under four headings, so that we have successively: a selection from Buffon's writings prior to the first (1749) volumes of his Histoire naturelle; pieces from these first volumes of 1749; immediate responses by the earliest critics, writing about the 1749 texts, and finally Herault de Sechelles' essay on Buffon, Voyage a MontbardK/i>. Much of the material is in translations made by Lyon and Sloan themselves, and in many cases the texts are ones not previously translated into English. Moreover, at every turn Lyon and Sloan have provided highly informative notes and commentary. In a substantial and original introduction, they have discussed the nature of Buffon's natural history especially from an epistemological point of view." --Medical History