Overview

"The idea of the gene has been a central organising theme in contemporary biology, and the Human Genome Project and biotechnological advances have put the gene in the media spotlight. In this book Lenny Moss reconstructs the history of the gene concept, placing it in the context of the perennial interplay between theories of preformationism and theories of epigenesis. He finds that there are not one, but two, fundamental - and fundamentally different - senses of ""the gene"" in scientific use: one the heir to preformationism and the other the heir to epigenesis. ""Gene-P,"" the preformationist gene concept, serves as an instrumental predictor of phenotypic outcomes, whereas ""Gene-D,"" the gene of epigenesis, is a developmental resource that specifies possible amino acid sequences for proteins. Moss argues that the popular idea that genes constitute blueprints for organisms is the result of an unwarranted conflation of these independently valid senses of the gene, and he analyses the rhetorical basis of this conflation. In the heart of the book, Moss uses the Gene-D/Gene-P distinction to examine the real basis of biological order and of the pathological loss of order in cancer."

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Reviews

The traditional, empiricist view is that everything in the mind got there through the senses. Jesse Prinz has written a feisty defense of this idea, thoroughly grounded in contemporary psychology and cognitive neuroscience. He sets out to undermine well-known and widely accepted arguments against the view that mental contents represent things by resembling them. He defends the equally radical view that mental representations in the form of prototypes are an adequate basis for such mental operations as the formation of composite concepts and logical inference. Prinz combines these radical elements with more widely accepted resources--such as a causal-history account of reference fixing--to create an ambitious and wide-ranging account of the furnishings of the mind. --Paul E. Griffiths, Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of PittsburghPlease note: Endorser gives permission to excerpt from quote. Lenny Moss's book helps us think more realistically about the applications of genetic and cell engineering. It demystifies the role of the genome in determining the properties of living matter and provides a philosophical framework for evaluating the impact of human interventions in heredity. Moss facilitates a sophisticated twenty-first century approach to asking whether we are improving the quality, or fundamentally changing the nature, of life. --James A. Shapiro, Professor of Microbiology, University of Chicago This is an interesting, informative, and important work. Moss raises significant questions about the impact of the metaphors we choose to use to aid our understanding of nature. He provides a nice blend of conceptual analysis, rhetorical analysis, and empirical information. And he nicely summarizes the 'phylogentic turn' away from ontogeny. All of this is couched in the context of a 'new naturalism' that weaves together biological and socio-cultural threads. --Bruce H. Weber, Professor of Biochemistry, California State University, Fullerton, and Robert H. Woodworth Professor of Science and Natural Philosophy, Bennington CollegePlease note: Endorser gives permission to excerpt from quote. This important book reviews the history that led to the gene-centered orientation of contemporary biology, provides a compelling critique of this perspective, and suggests an alternate, more satisfying approach to understanding biological phenomena. The author's expertise in both philosophy and biology make him uniquely equipped to write this book. No other book presents such a comprehensive history and critique of modern biological thought. --Robert Perlman, Department of Pediatrics, University of Chicago, and Editor of Perspectives in Biology and MedicinePlease note: Endorser gives permission to excerpt from quote. Today's biotechnologies employ manipulations of DNA and cells to confront us with momentous practical and ethical decisions about topics such as gene therapy, the use of stem cells, and human cloning. Lenny Moss's book helps us think more realistically about the applications of genetic and cell engineering by demystifying the role of the genome in determining the properties of living matter. By providing a richer philosophical framework for evaluating the impact of human interventions in heredity, Moss facilitates a sophisticated 21st-century approach to ongoing questions about whether we are improving the quality or fundamentally changing the nature of life. --James A. Shapiro, Professor of Microbiology, University of Chicago Lenny Moss breaks up the dominant image of the gene as a magic molecule in which our traits and our fates are written. Moss goes about his iconoclastic work by deploying a unique combination of philosophical analysis, rhetorical criticism, and a profoundly intimate knowledge of cell biology. The result is an important and, I hope, prophetic book. --David Depew, University of Iowa Forty years ago it seemed to me that the fledgling field of Artificial Intelligence had taken over from philosophy a mistaken computational/representational model of human being and made it into a research program. Besides setting unrealistic research goals, this misunderstanding was gaining the dignity of a new 'scientific' social self-understanding. What Computers Can't Do was meant to call attention to this problem and suggest a more promising approach.In this important and original book, Lenny Moss draws on his experience as both a molecular cell biologist and a philosopher to criticize--historically, scientifically, and philosophically--our current model of living beings as the product of pre-formed representations embedded in genes. His work provides a perspective from which a new philosophical anthropology can weave together biological and phenomenological insights into a realistic non-reductionist understanding of life and of human being. --Hubert Dreyfus, Department of Philosophy, University of California, BerkeleyPlease note: Quote may not be excerpted or altered. Thank you. Moss's combination of philosophical, historical and scientific understanding produces a rich and multi-faceted treatment of the gene concept. His vision of the role of the DNA molecule in living systems is challenging and original. And his writing is urgent and immediate, conveying a sense of passionate intellectual engagement with his topic. --Paul E. Griffiths, Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh Sarkar stands out amongst philosophers of science for his ability to combine conceptual, historical and technical considerations in compelling perspectives on the philosophical questions raised by contemporary biology. --Paul E. Griffiths, Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh

Author Information

Lenny Moss is Associate Professor of Philosophy and a Senior Fellow at the ESRC Center for Genomics in Society, University of Exeter, UK.

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