Genesis : the evolution of biology / Jan Sapp.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sapp, Jan.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Biology--History.

Biology.

History.

Evolution (Biology)--History.

Evolution (Biology).

Genetics--History.

Genetics.

Physical Description:

xix, 364 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Oxford University Press, 2003.

Summary:

This book presents a history of the past two centureis of biology, suitable for use in courses, but of interest more broadly to evolutionary biologists, geneticists, and biomedical scientists, and general readers interested in the history of science. The book covers the early evolutionary biologists-Lamarck, Cuvier, Darwin, Wallace, etc., through Mayr and the neodarwinian synthesis, in much the same way as other histories of evolution have done, bringing in also the social implications, the struggles with our religious understanding, and the interweaving of genetics into evolutionary theory. What is novel about Sapp's account is a real integration of the cytological tradition, from Schwann, Boveri, and the other early cell biologists and embryologists, and the coverage of symbiosis, microbial evolutionary phylogenies, and the new understanding of complete microbial genomes. The book as a whole will serve as a good introduction to the rise of modern biology over the past two centuries.

Contents:

Part I Evolution and Morphology

1. Evolution and Revolution 3

Two Worldviews 4

Revolution to Evolution 5

Lamarckian Myths 6

Simple to Complex 8

Disconnecting the Unity of Life 11

The Cuvier-Geoffroy Debate 13

2. The Origin 16

When Making Other Plans 17

Darwin's Bible 18

The Beagle Voyage 20

Natural Selection and Natural Theology 22

Wallace's Manuscript 24

Concepts of The Origin 26

3. Darwin's Champions 31

Man's Place in Nature 31

Natural Theology and Agnosticism 33

Archetype and Idealism 35

Ontogeny and Phylogeny 36

Materialism for Mysticism 40

4. Darwinism and Sociopolitical Thought 43

Laissez-faire 44

Social Darwinism Exported 46

War and Racism 47

Darwinism on the Left 48

Was Darwin a Social Darwinist? 49

Social Theory in Evolution 50

The Division of Labor 50

Darwin and Malthus 52

5. Mutualism 55

Anarchism 55

Between Individuals 57

Between Species 58

Roots in Natural Theology 61

6. Dissent from Darwin 63

Is the Earth Old Enough? 64

Blending Inheritance 64

What Is a Species? 65

Speciation and Isolation 66

Is Everything Adapted? 66

Holes in the Record 67

Neo-Lamarckism 68

Orthogenesis 69

Saltationism 71

Part II The Cell in Development and Heredity

7. The Myth of the Cell Theory 75

An Historical Paradox 75

Cells from Cells 77

More than Meets the Eye 78

Vitalism, Materialism, and Spontaneous Generation 80

8. The Body Politic 82

The Cell State 82

The Dawn of Protistology 85

A Cell Is Not a Cell 86

What's in a Word 87

Organisms within Organisms 90

Weismannism 91

9. Evolving Embryology 95

Technical Virtuosity 96

The Organism as a Whole 98

Epigenesis and Preformation 100

10. The Egg 103

The Body Plan in the Egg 104

Maternal Inheritance 106

Cellular Differentiation 109

Cytoplasmic Evolution 112

Part III Genetics and the Classical Synthesis

11. Mendel Palimpsest 117

Mendel's Laws 118

Neglect and Rediscovery 119

Making a Discoverer 121

Why Multiple Meanings? 122

Geneticists versus Statisticians 124

Mendel Made Darwinian 126

Is the Scientific Paper Fiction? 126

12. Emerging Genetics 130

The Field of Heredity 130

Genotype and Phenotype 134

Disciplinary Design 135

Biology out of Balance 138

Are Genes Real? 140

13. Darwinian Renaissance 143

Merging Mendelism 144

The Importance of Sex 146

Population Genetics 147

Random Drift and Nonadaptive Change 149

The Species Problem 151

Microevolution as Macroevolution 152

Lessons of Synthesis 154

14. Genes, Germs, and Enzymes 157

The Garrod Tale 158

Physiology and Genetics 158

Early Gene-Enzyme Associations 160

The One-Gene: One-Enzyme Hypothesis 161

Domesticating Microbes 163

The Chosen Few 164

The Rockefeller Foundation 168

15. Genetic Heresy and the Cold War 171

Non-Darwinian Development 173

Plasmon to Plasmagenes 174

The Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics 176

University Politics 179

Morgan's Smile 181

Part IV Molecular Biology and Organismic Complexity

16. Conceiving a Master Molecule 187

DNA or Protein? 188

Transformation and Transduction 189

Chromatography 191

X-Ray Crystallography 192

Digital DNA 194

Transcription and Translation 196

Turning Genes On and Off 197

Classical Doctrines of Molecular Biology 198

17. Beyond the Genome 201

Complexity and the Human Genome 203

A Genetic Plan? 205

Confronting Old Dogmas 206

Cell Architecture and Spatial Information 207

Field Heredity 211

Epinucleic Inheritance 214

18. Molecular Evolution and Microbial Phylogeny 217

Precambrian Explosion 218

Molecular Clocks 220

The Origin of the Code 221

A Code for Classification 224

A Trilogy of Life 225

Dissension and Disaffection 228

Lateral Gene Transfer 230

19. Symbiomics 234

Developmental Symbiosis 235

Symbiosis Silhouette 236

Why It Has Been Difficult to Imagine 240

Toward a Unified Theory 243

Symbiogenetic Renaissance 245

Macroevolutionary Change 247

20. The Evolution of Relationships 252

The Individual and the Group 253

Kin Selection 255

The Organism as a Beehive 255

The Lessons of Sociobiology 257

About Just-So Stories 258

Symbiotic Ties 261.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 273-345) and index.

ISBN:

0195156196

0195156188

OCLC:

50858986