Brooks, Daniel Stephen: The concept of levels of organization in the biological sciences. 2016
Inhalt
- Table of Contents
- Chapter One: The Intuitive Appeal and Ubiquity of 'Levels of Organization'
- 1.1 Introduction
- 1.2 Analyzing 'Levels of Organization' in Biological Science
- 1.3 Initial Distinctions
- 1.4 Depictions of Levels in Biological Textbooks
- 1.4.1 The Character of 'Levels' in Biological Science
- 1.4.2 The Significance of 'Levels' in Biological Science
- 1.5 The Concept of Hierarchy
- 1.6 The Structure of This Dissertation
- Chapter Two: Philosophical Conceptions of Levels
- 2.1 Introduction
- 2.2 The Layer-Cake Account of Levels
- 2.2.1 Global Scope and Comprehensive Character
- 2.2.2 Stepwise Compositional Continuity
- 2.2.3 Linearity of Levels Strata
- 2.2.4 Correspondence Between Nature and Science
- 2.2.5 The Continued Influence of the Layer-Cake Account
- 2.3 The Mechanistic Account of Levels
- 2.3.1 Local Scope and Radically Contextualized Character
- 2.3.2 Principled Rejection of Correspondence Between Science and Nature
- 2.3.3 Branching Structure
- 2.3.4 Constitutive Relevance
- 2.4 Conclusion
- Chapter Three: Levels Skepticism
- 3.1 Introduction
- 3.2 Levels – A Flawed, Misleading, and Irrelevant Concept?
- 3.2.1 The Levels Concept is Flawed
- 3.2.2 The Levels Concept is Misleading
- 3.2.3 Are Levels of Organization Irrelevant to Science?
- 3.3 Considerations of Levels Skepticism
- 3.3.1 A Straw-Man Conception of Levels
- 3.3.2 Guilt by Association: The Layer-Cake Account as the Default Conception of Levels
- 3.3.3 Association of 'Levels' with 'Layer-cake Levels'
- 3.3.4 Association of 'Levels' with Layer-Cake Reductionism
- 3.4 Conclusion
- Chapter Four: A Fragmentary Concept
- 4.1 Introduction
- 4.2 Semantic Variation and the Levels Concept
- 4.3 A Framework for Analyzing Semantic Variation in Biological Concepts
- 4.3.1 Components of Semantic Content and the Molecular Gene Concept
- 4.3.2 Epistemic Goals of Concept Usage
- 4.3.3 Unifying Fragmentary Concepts under their Epistemic Goal
- 4.4 The Epistemic Goal of 'Levels of Organization'
- 4.4.1 How Levels of Organization Structure Problems
- 4.4.2 Descriptive Level Claims
- 4.4.3 Hypothetical Level Claims
- 4.5 Case Study for the Use of Levels: The Explanation of Oxidative Phosphorylation
- 4.6 Conclusion
- Chapter Five: The Organicist Roots of the Levels Concept
- 5.1 Introduction
- 5.2 The Historical Context of the Levels Concept
- 5.3 The Organicist Program and the Levels Concept
- 5.3.1 The Tenets of the Organicist Program
- 5.3.2 The Organicists' Use of the Levels Concept
- 5.3.3 The Epistemic Goal behind the Organicists' Use of Levels
- 5.4 The Integrative Account of Levels of Organization
- 5.4.1 Global Scope and Contextualized Character
- 5.4.2 Incomplete Epistemic Continuity in Levels of Organization
- 5.4.3 Weak Association Between Science and Nature
- 5.5 Integrative Levels & Layer-cake Levels
- 5.6 Organicist Influence on Mitchell’s Chemiosmotic Hypothesis
- 5.7 Conclusion
- General Conclusion
- References
- Acknowledgments