Cambridge University Press has published Genes and the Agents of Life: The
Individual in the Fragile Sciences: Biology, by Robert A. Wilson in simultaneous
hard and paperback.  The book discusses the role and conception of individuals
in the biological sciences, and includes discussions of organisms, genes and
developmental systems, and groups and natural selection.

What are the agents of life?  Central to our conception of the biological world
is the idea that it contains various kinds of individuals, including genes,
organisms, and species.  How we conceive of these agents of life is central to
our understanding of the relationship between life and mind, the place of
hierarchical thinking in the biological sciences, and pluralistic views of
biological agency.  Genes and the Agents of Life rethinks the place of the
individual in the biological sciences, drawing parallels with the cognitive and
social sciences.  Genes, organisms, and species are all agents of life, but how
are each of these conceptualized within genetics, developmental biology,
evolutionary biology, and systematics?  The book includes highly accessible
discussions of genetic encoding, species and natural kinds, and pluralism above
the levels of selection, drawing on work from across the biological sciences.  A
companion to Boundaries of the Mind, (Cambridge, 2004) where the focus is on the
cognitive sciences, this volume will appeal to professionals and students in
philosophy, biology, and the history of science. Robert A. Wilson is Professor
of Philosophy at the University of Alberta.  He is the author of Cartesian
Psychology and Physical Minds (Cambridge, 1995).

Contents

Part I. Individuals, Agency, and Biology: 1. Individuals and biology; 2.
Thinking about biological agents; Part II. Species, Organisms, and Biological
Natural Kinds: 3. What is an organism?; 4. Exploring the tripartite view; 5.
Specious individuals; Part III. Genes and Organismic Development: 6. Genetic
agency; 7. Conceptualizing development; Part IV. Groups and Natural Selection:
8. Groups as agents of selection; 9. Arguing about group selection: the myxoma
case; 10. Pluralism, entwinement, and the levels of selection.

Reviews

"Wilson provides an important new perspective on many of the key problems in the
philosophy of biology through his highly original focus on the locus of agency
in explanations. Any philosopher with interests in the life or human sciences
will gain valuable new insights from this work." Paul E. Griffiths, University
of Pittsburgh

"This is a bold, absorbing, and deeply-informed book...[Wilson's] views are
often controversial and provocative, but always clearly and lucidly argued. As
well as fostering productive debate within the philosophy of biology, this book
has the potential to show a much wider audience why this discipline is currently
so exciting." John Dupre, University of Exeter

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