Pradeu, Thomas (2010) What is an organism? An immunological answer. [Preprint]

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Abstract

The question “What is an organism?”, formerly considered as essential in biology, has now been increasingly replaced by a larger question, “What is a biological individual?”. On the grounds that i) individuation is theory-dependent, and ii) physiology does not offer a theory, biologists and philosophers of biology have claimed that it is the theory of evolution by natural selection which tells us what counts as a biological individual. Here I show that one physiological field, immunology, offers a theory, which makes possible a biological individuation based on physiological grounds. I give a new answer to the question of the individuation of an organism by linking together the evolutionary and the immunological approaches to biological individuation.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Pradeu, Thomas
Keywords:	Philosophy of immunology; organism; immunology; individuality; levels of selection
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Biology > Evolutionary Theory Specific Sciences > Biology > Molecular Biology/Genetics Specific Sciences > Biology
Depositing User:	Thomas Pradeu
Date Deposited:	06 Jan 2010
Last Modified:	07 Oct 2010 15:19
Item ID:	5089
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Biology > Evolutionary Theory Specific Sciences > Biology > Molecular Biology/Genetics Specific Sciences > Biology
Date:	January 2010
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/5089

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