Plasticity in the Life Sciences

Analyzes the reasons why biologists have referred to and continue to refer to plasticity.

Since the early twentieth century, plasticity has become an important topic in biology. Some even wondered whether plasticity has acquired in biology the theoretical importance that the concept of the gene enjoyed at the beginning of the last century. In this historical and epistemological analysis, Antonine Nicoglou shows how the recurrence of the general idea of plasticity throughout the history of the life sciences indicates its essential role in the way we think about life processes. She also argues that although plasticity has become a key element in new evolutionary thinking, its role in contemporary biology is not so limited. Rather, as mobilized in contemporary biology, plasticity most often seeks to account for the specific nature of living systems.

The book is divided into two parts, with the first taking up the history of plasticity from Aristotle to contemporary biology. Then, the second part of the book offers an original way of distinguishing between different phenomena described by ＂plasticity.＂ In the process, the author explores what has led some biologists to speak of plasticity as a way of overcoming genetic determinism.

Antonine Nicoglou is associate professor of philosophy of science at the University of Tours.