vbid/9781402088667

Description

Our previous book, About Life, concerned modern biology. We used our present-day understanding of cells to �define� the living state, providing a basis for exploring several general-interest topics: the origin of life, extraterrestrial life, intelligence, and the possibility that humans are unique. The ideas we proposed in About Life were intended as starting-points for debate � we did not claim them as �truth� � but the information on which they were based is currently accepted as �scientific fact�. What does that mean? What is �scientific fact� and why is it accepted? What is science � and is biology like other sciences such as physics (except in subject m- ter)? The book you are now reading investigates these questions � and some related ones. Like About Life, it may particularly interest a reader who wishes to change career to biology and its related subdisciplines. In line with a recommendation by the British Association for the Advancement of Science � that the public should be given fuller information about the nature of science � we present the concepts underpinning biology and a survey of its historical and philosophical basis.Typham this is the title: Thinking about Life The history and philosophy of biology and other sciences