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Small Things, Big Consequences: Microbiological Perspectives on Biology

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The Philosophy of Biology

Part of the book series: History, Philosophy and Theory of the Life Sciences ((HPTL,volume 1))

Abstract

Microbiology is a broad-ranging area of research that has developed out of 400 years of observation, analysis and theorizing about microscopic life forms. The study of microbes has not yet received a great deal of attention from philosophy of biology, but there are many reasons why it should. In this chapter, we outline the value of thinking philosophically about microbes and microbiology via a discussion of concepts of life, biological individuals and levels of selection. These discussions will show how taking a philosophical perspective on microbiological studies can enrich not only microbiology but also biology in general and its philosophy. We conclude by drawing out some of the implications of philosophical perspectives on microbiology for educational strategies in the teaching of biology.

Michael J. Duncan, Pierrick Bourrat and Jennifer DeBerardinis contributed equally to this chapter.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For clarity’s sake, we emphasize here that our claim about biological individuals existing at the group level is distinct from the claim made by Ghiselin (1974) and Hull (1976) that species are individuals. The individuals discussed in our paper are functional individuals, organisms, or units of selection, whereas the individuals Ghiselin and Hull care about are merely spatiotemporally localized entities (Wilson and Sober 1989).

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Acknowledgements

MJD is supported by an Australian Postgraduate Award. PB acknowledges the support of the Australian Research Council (DP0878650) and an International Postgraduate Research Scholarship from the University of Sydney. JDB is supported by the Australian-American Fulbright Commission. MAO’s research is funded by an ARC Future Fellowship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy, University of Sydney, Quadrangle A14, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia

    Michael J. Duncan, Pierrick Bourrat & Maureen A. O’Malley

  2. Sydney Centre for the Foundations of Science, University of Sydney, Quadrangle A14, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia

    Jennifer DeBerardinis

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  1. Michael J. Duncan
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  2. Pierrick Bourrat
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  3. Jennifer DeBerardinis
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  4. Maureen A. O’Malley
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Correspondence to Maureen A. O’Malley .

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  1. Educational Research & Development, Geitonas School, Vari Attikis, Athens, 1234, Attiki, Greece

    Kostas Kampourakis

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Duncan, M.J., Bourrat, P., DeBerardinis, J., O’Malley, M.A. (2013). Small Things, Big Consequences: Microbiological Perspectives on Biology. In: Kampourakis, K. (eds) The Philosophy of Biology. History, Philosophy and Theory of the Life Sciences, vol 1. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6537-5_18

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