Embryology, Epigenesis and Evolution: Taking Development Seriously

✍ Scribed by Jason Scott Robert

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2004
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 175
• Series: Cambridge Studies in Philosophy and Biology
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Philosophers of science have tended to avoid the problem of "development" by focusing primarily on evolutionary biology and, more recently, on molecular biology and genetics. Jason Scott Robert explores the nature of development as it relates to current concepts in biological theory and practice and analyzes the interrelations between development and evolution (evo-devo), an area of resurgent biological inquiry.

✦ Table of Contents

Half-title......Page 2
Series-title......Page 4
Title......Page 6
Copyright......Page 7
Contents......Page 8
List of Figures......Page 10
Preface......Page 12
1 The Problem of Development......Page 18
heuristics......Page 19
exploring development......Page 22
a flawed heuristic?......Page 26
hedging about the homeobox......Page 29
beyond the hedge......Page 32
heuristic superiority......Page 35
embryology: roux and driesch......Page 40
epigenesis: the homeobox genes......Page 43
evolution: blind cave fish......Page 48
conclusion......Page 50
3 Scylla and Charybdis......Page 51
preformation versus epigenesis......Page 52
preformation and epigenesis: the modern consensus......Page 54
unpacking the modern consensus......Page 58
genetic informationism......Page 60
genetic animism......Page 65
navigating the strait......Page 71
4 Constitutive Epigenetics......Page 73
embryology AND genetics; embryology AS genetics......Page 75
genetic primacy......Page 78
epigenetics......Page 80
organism-centred biology......Page 84
constituting genes......Page 90
the organism in context......Page 95
Social Structure......Page 97
Predator-Induced Polyphenism......Page 98
creativity in development......Page 103
beyond the modern consensus......Page 107
6 A New Synthesis?......Page 110
the unmodern synthesis......Page 111
what is evo–devo?......Page 113
Butterfly Wing Morphology......Page 116
External Furry Cheek Pouches......Page 117
The Developmental Origins of the Turtle Shell......Page 119
an unhappy synthesis?......Page 120
happiness ever after?......Page 124
standard views......Page 126
nonstandard views......Page 130
dst, evo–devo, and the modern consensus......Page 135
challenging developmental systems......Page 136
the theoretical value of dst......Page 144
taking development seriously......Page 145
chapter 1......Page 148
chapter 3......Page 149
chapter 4......Page 151
chapter 6......Page 153
chapter 7......Page 155
Bibliography......Page 158
Index......Page 174