Lindley Darden's Reasoning in Biological Discoveries: Mechanisms,
Interfield Relations, and Anomaly Resolution is now available in
paperback from Cambridge University Press.

Darden, Lindley (2006), Reasoning in Biological Discoveries: Mechanisms,
Interfield Relations, and Anomaly Resolution. New York: Cambridge
University Press.

Now available as an e-book and in paperback:

USA: http://www.cambridge.org/us/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521117272
UK: http://www.cup.cam.ac.uk/aus/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521117272
	
Reasoning in Biological Discoveries brings together a series of essays,
which focus on one of the most heavily debated topics of scientific
discovery. Collected together and richly illustrated, Darden’s essays
represent a groundbreaking foray into one of the major problems facing
scientists and philosophers of science. Divided into three sections, the
essays focus on broad themes, notably historical and philosophical
issues at play in discussions of biological mechanism; and the problem
of developing and refining reasoning strategies, including interfield
relations and anomaly resolution. Darden summarizes the philosophy of
discovery and elaborates on the role that mechanisms play in biological
discovery. Throughout the book, she uses historical case studies to
extract advisory reasoning strategies for discovery. Examples in
genetics, molecular biology, biochemistry, immunology, neuroscience and
evolutionary biology reveal the process of discovery in action. The
final section is one paper, written for this volume, that summarizes the
preceding work, describes the development of Darden's (and her
colleagues) views on mechanism in response to criticisms or to
alternative accounts, and draws explicit connections between Darden's
work on mechanisms and her work on discovery in biological sciences.


From recent reviews:

" …it is refreshing to read a collection of essays that not only
coheres, but also puts forth a substantial research program. "
from Review of Darden 2006 by Roberta L. Millstein, University of
California, Davis
2007.07.08
Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, on line
http://ndpr.nd.edu/review.cfm?id=10343


"All of the papers are well worth reading, and it’s a public service to
make the fruitful and frequently discussed "Thinking about Mechanisms"
and "Interfield Theories" available in the same volume. The exposition is
calm, patient, and businesslike, but beneath its quiet exterior,
Reasoning delivers an original (if not revisionary) and provocative
message."
from Bogen, James (2008), "The New Mechanical Philosophy," Metascience 17:33-41


"Overall, this book is useful both as an introduction to the
philosophical literature on mechanisms and as an overview of the main
themes in Darden's work.  It is a good introduction not only because
Darden's views have had such an influence on recent work on mechanisms
in philosophy of science, but also because she discusses the work of
other philosophers throughout the papers and in the final chapter. The
philosophical literature on mechanisms is growing and is also increasing
its influence beyond the molecular and physiological processes that are
the focus of Darden's own work to, for example, philosophy of chemistry,
of psychology and of sociology.  This new scholarship will almost
certainly show the influence of the papers in this collection."
from Metapsychology v. 10, issue 51, on line reviews
Review by Robyn Bluhm, Ph.D. on Dec 19th 2006
online: 
http://metapsychology.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=book&id=3426

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