Functional Integration: A Theoretical Enquiry into the Biological Unit of the Individual

This book explores the main biological dimensions underlying functional integration and examines how they contribute to defining a biological individual as both a physiological and evolutionary unit. Functional integration lies at the heart of most definitions of both organisms and biological individuals, making it explanatorily relevant to biology as well as to the philosophy of biology. However, the notion—typically referring to any causal interdependence among biological functions—remain...