From groups to individuals: evolution and emerging individuality

by Bouchard, Frederic Huneman, Philippe

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Title Statements

Full title :From groups to individuals : evolution and emerging individuality / edited by Frédéric Bouchard and Philippe Huneman.

Summary

The biological and philosophical implications of the emergence of new collective individuals from associations of living beings. Our intuitive assumption that only organisms are the real individuals in the natural world is at odds with developments in cell biology, ecology, genetics, evolutionary biology, and other fields. Although organisms have served for centuries as nature's paradigmatic individuals, science suggests that organisms are only one of the many ways in which the natural world could be organized. When living beings work together--as in ant colonies, beehives, and bacteria-metazoan symbiosis--new collective individuals can emerge. In this book, leading scholars consider the biological and philosophical implications of the emergence of these new collective individuals from associations of living beings. The topics they consider range from metaphysical issues to biological research on natural selection, sociobiology, and symbiosis. The contributors investigate individuality and its relationship to evolution and the specific concept of organism; the tension between group evolution and individual adaptation; and the structure of collective individuals and the extent to which they can be defined by the same concept of individuality. These new perspectives on evolved individuality should trigger important revisions to both philosophical and biological conceptions of the individual. ContributorsFrederic Bouchard, Ellen Clarke, Jennifer Fewell, Andrew Gardner, Peter Godfrey-Smith, Charles J. Goodnight, Matt Haber, Andrew Hamilton, Philippe Huneman, Samir Okasha, Thomas Pradeu, Scott Turner, Minus van Baalen

Edition Statements

Publication Date:2013.

Publication Statements

Publisher(s):The MIT Press
Place of Publication:Cambridge, MA
Language:eng
Publication Date:2013.

The Physical Object

Description:1 online resource

Edition Identifiers

ISBN:9780262313445, 0262313448, 9781299443211, 1299443214
oclc:ocn834622685
LC Classification:QH331
Dewey Decimal:570.1

Darwinian individuals / Peter Godfrey-Smith -- Defining the individual / Charles J. Goodnight -- Species and organisms / Ellen Clarke and Samir Okasha -- Immunity and the emergence of individuality / Thomas Pradeu -- Adaptation of individuals and groups / Andy Gardner -- The unit of adaptation, the emergence of individuality and the loss of evolutionary sovereignty / Minus van Baalen -- Adaptations in transitions / Philippe Huneman -- Groups, individuals, and the emergence of sociality / Andrew Hamilton and Jennifer Fewell -- Colonies are individuals / Matt Haber -- Superorganisms and superindividuality / Scott Turner -- What is a symbiotic superindividual and how do you measure its fitness? / Frédéric Bouchard.

Subjects

Adaptation (Biologie) Adaptation (Biology) Adaptation, Biological Biologie -- Philosophie Biology -- Philosophy BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES/Evolution BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES/General Group identity Identité collective Individualité Individuality NATURE -- Reference Organismes Organisms SCIENCE -- Life Sciences Social Identification