Synopses & Reviews
Review
The book successfully achieves the authors' goal of demonstrating by example the power and nature of the dialectical method. Its usefulness, however, extends well beyond this. The articles are intellectually challenging in content as well as method. And by collecting in one place articles on evolution, scientific analysis and the social dimensions of science--the book's three major divisions--the authors have provided a valuable tool for exploring the complexity and richness of biology...The Dialectical Biologistis certain to be controversial...This book is a rich source of understanding, and it will undoubtedly stimulate important discussion. -- New Scientist
Review
The book successfully achieves the authors' goal of demonstrating by example the power and nature of the dialectical method. Its usefulness, however, extends well beyond this. The articles are intellectuallychallenging in content as well as method. And by collecting in one place articles on evolution, scientific analysis and the social dimensions of science--the book's three major divisions--the authors have provided a valuable tool forexploring the complexity and richness of biology...The Dialectical Biologistis certain to be controversial...This book is a rich source of understanding, and it will undoubtedly stimulate importantdiscussion.
Review
An extremely readable and very provocative book. -- New England Quarterly
Review
This important and controversial book will be hotly discussed by biologists. -- New York Times Book Review
Synopsis
Scientists act within a social context and from a philosophical perspective that is inherently political. Whether they realize it or not, scientists always choose sides. The Dialectical Biologist explores this political nature of scientific inquiry, advancing its argument within the framework of Marxist dialectic. These essays stress the concepts of continual change and co-determination between organism and environment, part and whole, structure and process, science and politics. Throughout, this book questions our accepted definitions and biases, showing the self-reflective nature of scientific activity within society.
About the Author
Richard Levins is John Rock Professor of Population Sciences, Harvard School of Public Health.Richard Lewontin is Alexander Agassiz Research Professor at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University. His many books include Biology and Ideology, Not in Our Genes, and Human Diversity.
Harvard University
Table of Contents
Introduction
1. On Evolution
Evolution as Theory and Ideology
Adaptation
The Organism as the Subject and Object of Evolution
2. On Analysis
The Analysis of Variance and the Analysis of Causes
Isidore Nabi on the Tendencies of Motion
Dialectics and Reductionism in Ecology
3. Science as a Social Product and the Social Product of Science
The Problem of Lysenkoism
The Commoditizatjon of Science
The Political Economy of Agricultural Research
Applied Biology in the Third World
The Pesticide System
Research Needs for Latin Community Health
What Is Human Nature?
Conclusion: Dialectics
Bibliography Index