Thinking About Life

Thinking About Life concerns the history and philosophy of science, with the emphasis on biology and medicine. One problem that has dominated the study of life since the time of Aristotle – how to account scientifically for the (obvious) fact that organisms and their parts have purposes or functions – can be solved only by reference to modern evolutionary theory and cell biology.

The development of these twin pillars of contemporary biological thought is explored in detail. The question “Is biology a ‘science’ in the same sense as physics?” is debated. Thinking About Life is again aimed at the general, non-specialist reader but may interest students of the history and philosophy of science who are interested in biology, and biologists who wish to expand their knowledge of the history of their discipline.

Table of contents and sample chapter 

Reviews

Thinking About Life is the second book in the ‘about life’ series by the cell biologists Paul Agutter and Denys Wheatley. The first volume, About Life, deals largely with the living cell, the processes that go on inside it and the sequence of incredibly unlikely events that allowed life on earth to evolve. It is beautifully written and packed with fascinating information and discussion.

In the excellent sequel, Thinking About Life, the authors turn their attention to science in general, what it is and how it has evolved from the earliest attempts to explain the natural world in pre-Christian Greece to the origin of modern science in sixteenth century Europe. In today’s world, science (beyond useful technology) is often seen as a kind of alternative explanation of the universe, almost an alternative religion. Thinking About Life explains eloquently and in detail that science is naturalistic (i.e. has nothing to do with the supernatural), that its explanations are mechanistic, logically consistent and impersonal and that, far from being a system of fixed and immutable beliefs, it is inherently progressive. The authors go on to show how these general scientific principles apply to living systems and their evolution. They explain the differences between living and non-living systems as perceived throughout history and how modern science has shown that the constituent molecules of living cells obey the same laws of physics (and only those laws) as the molecules of inanimate matter so that the notion of ‘life force’ is an irrelevance. The idea of purpose in evolution is also seen to be more apparent than real. The final chapters deal with the implications of all these things to the more general areas of human culture and its problems.

The layout of the book makes for an unusual degree of clarity. The detailed list of contents is particularly useful, allowing the reader easily to navigate through the text and to be able to profit, when time is short, by dipping into the narrative at any point. The two books together take up precious little room on the bookshelf yet are packed with fascinating facts and thoughts about those things at the heart of our existence.

J. Littlewood, BDS, Dental Surgeon (retired).

THEORETICAL MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY GROUP

An independent academic organisation centred in Glossop, Derbyshire, U.K.