Styles of Reasoning in the British Life Sciences: Shared Assumptions, 1820-1858

by James Elwick

Overview

Elwick explores how the concept of "compound individuality" brought together life scientists working in pre-Darwinian London. Scientists conducting research in comparative anatomy, physiology, cellular microscopy, embryology and the neurosciences repeatedly stated that plants and animals were compounds of smaller independent units. Discussion of a "bodily economy" was widespread. But by 1860, the most flamboyant discussions of compound individuality had come to an end in Britain. Elwick relates the growth and decline of questions about compound individuality to wider nineteenth-century debates about research standards and causality. He uses specific technical case studies to address overarching themes of reason and scientific method.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780822981831
Publisher:	University of Pittsburgh Press
Publication date:	09/15/2007
Series:	Sci & Culture in the Nineteenth Century
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	244
File size:	7 MB

About the Author

James Elwick is associate professor of science and technology studies at York University. He is the author of Styles of Reasoning in the British Life Sciences: Shared Assumptions, 1820–1858, and currently works on how standardized achievement tests actually became standardized.

Table of Contents

Cover Half Title Title Copyright Contents Acknowledgments List of Illustrations Introduction Styles of Reasoning: Analysis: Synthesis and Palaetiology Problematics A London Community of Life Researchers and other Historiographic Notes The Argument and Structure Historians' Questions 1. Analysis Part One Analysis: Synthesis in France Philosophic Anatomy in London Philosophic Radicals and Philosophic Anatomists: Mutually Appreciative Audiences Analysis: Synthesis, Political Individualism and Spontaneous Order The Importance of Museums The Contingent Beginnings of Richard Owen The Domestication of Analysis: Synthesis: Owen's Reinterpretation of John Hunter Owen's Rise Neurophysiology as Analysis: Vivisections The Reflex Arc, Analysis and Compound Individuality Lower Animals, Disunity and the Reflex Arc The Bodily Oeconomy Compound Individuality and Levels of Organization: Phrenology and Wiganism Hierarchy and Internal Unity Cephalization Centripetal Development Cephalization and Recapitulation Exemplars of Cephalization The Creation and Reception of a New Exemplar Monsters as Synthesized (Truly Compound) Organisms 4. Regeneration as Reproduction Exemplars: Recurring Puzzles and Animal-Researcher Pairings Why did Owen call it Vegetative Repetition? Parthenogenesis then Metagenesis The Acceptance of Metagenesis 5. 1837: The Accession of Palaetiology William Whewell and Palaetiology, 1837 Martin Barry and the Introduction of von Baerian Embryology to Britain, 1837 William B. Carpenter and the Reinterpretation of Zoophytes Vivaria and Questions of Evidence Huxley, Palaetiologist 6. Alternative Explanations and New Generations, 1850-1858 Huxley Cultivates London Mentors Zoöids and Individuality Private Attacks upon Owen Begin Public Attacks upon Owen Begin Reproductive Masses: 'Buds' or 'Pseudova'? Professionalization as Exclusion Conclusion Individual Agency and Styles of Reasoning? Notes Works Cited Index

Editorial Reviews

I learned a great deal from Elwick’s book about matters relevant, not just to my interest in the history of the period in question, but also to issues still at stake in contemporary philosophy of biology. Historians and philosophers of biology alike have much to gain from reading it.

Journal of the History of Biology

A stimulating and highly original book.

History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences

Elwick's book is a valuable contribution to a richer historical understanding of the period. The quality and range of the research is exemplary and I found myself wanting more of his well-written and lucid arguments.

British Society for Literature and Science

Elwick has provided an informative and constructive analysis of the major themes involved.

Isis

"A stimulating and highly original book."
—History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences


"Elwick has provided an informative and constructive analysis of the major themes involved."
—Isis


"Elwick's book is a valuable contribution to a richer historical understanding of the period. The quality and range of the research is exemplary and I found myself wanting more of his well-written and lucid arguments."
—British Society for Literature and Science


"An important book."
—British Society for the History of Science

From the Publisher