1976 hardcover, pictorial boards (issued without jacket)

Evolution and Consciousness: Human Systems in Transition

Politics & Social Sciences

Jantsch, Erich

Waddington, C.H.

Philosophy

Addison-Wesley

Sketching Theoretical Biology: Toward a Theoretical Biology, Volume 2

The purpose of this volume is to bring together a number of elements that would be useful in the construction of a coherent and comprehensive theory of biology. Based on the assumption that living systems represent some kind of "organized complexity," the collection discusses meaningful ways of formulating two basic questions: what is the nature of this complexity; and, what are the principles of its organization? The question always asked about biological theory is whether or not it constitutes useful scientific theory. Because many useful biological theories cannot yet be made explicit in terms of conventional physics, Sketching Theoretical Biology illustrates the types of questions in biology that correspond to the types of issues discussed in theoretical physics. This book, originally published in 1969, centers around a vigorous debate on the role played by metaphysical beliefs in determining scientific attitudes. The discussion covers heredity and evolution, cognitive processes and control processes, general property of hierarchies, and the current status of neo-Darwinism. Contributors include theoretical physicists, philosophers, neuroscientists, theoretical chemists, computer scientists, chemical engineers, geneticists and molecular biologists.

Computers & Technology

Routledge

This is the third, penultimate volume in the Toward a Theoretical Biology series. The contributors agree that there is a major problem in finding methods of dealing with the great complexity of biological systems. Molecular biology has given us considerable insight into the nature of the elementary units and processes of life, but to understand how these are put together to form systems that are usually too complicated to be analyzed completely, but exhibit global properties of simplicity, presents biologists with an intellectual challenge that physical sciences and chemistry must also face.  The problem is approached from several different angles: quantum physics, topology, and statistical mechanics. A stimulating discussion is recorded: that the behavior of randomly constructed networks exhibits simplicity. Thoughtful analyses of complexities in such basic biological processes as the genetic control of differentiation, evolution, and ecology is also included. Some of the questions dealt with are: What kinds of theories should we wish to have in connection with developmental biology? And have we got them?  The subject matter of Organization Stability and Process is defined as the basic concept of biology. None of the contributors herein contained is a molecular biologist in the modern sense, but molecular biology casts a shadow over this work, at least in so far as they challenge its interpretative aggressiveness and its enthusiastic but unendearing self-confidence and self-sufficiency. This volume inaugurates a new and authentic style of scientific literature. The contributions are thoughtful, imaginative, illuminating, and exceptionally well written.

Organization Stability and Process: Volume 3 (Toward a Theoretical Biology)

Drawing on general systems theory, operations research, cybernetics, futures research, and catastrophe theory, a distinguished geneticist provides the general reader with tools for perceiving and solving today's complex economic, social, and ecological problems

Tools for thought

Basic Books, Inc.

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Science And Ethics

History

Franklin Classics

The evolution of an evolutionist

Cornell University Press

The Nature Of Life

Biographies & Memoirs

Kessinger Publishing

Originally published in 1952 as part of the Cambridge Biological Studies series, this book presents contemporary theories on embryology using the example of the bird embryo. Waddington reviews the modern experimental embryology of birds, and touches on topics such as plumage development and the developmental actions of mutant genes. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in embryology or the history of epigenetics.

The Epigenetics of Birds

Science & Math

Biological Sciences

Cambridge University Press

First published in 1957, this essential classic work bridged the gap between analytical and theoretical biology, thus setting the insights of the former in a context which more sensitively reflects the ambiguities surrounding many of its core concepts and objectives.  Specifically, these five essays are concerned with some of the major problems of classical biology: the precise character of biological organisation, the processes which generate it, and the specifics of evolution. With regard to these issues, some thinkers suggest that biological organisms are not merely distinguishable from inanimate ‘things’ in terms of complexity, but are in fact radically different qualitatively: they exemplify some constitutive principle which is not elsewhere manifested. It is the desire to bring such ideas into conformity with our understanding of analytical biology which unifies these essays. They explore the contours of a conceptual framework sufficiently wide to embrace all aspects of living systems.

The Strategy of the Genes

Americas

Biological Processes in Living Systems: Toward a Theoretical Biology

Biological Processes in Living Systems is the fourth and final volume of the Toward a Theoretical Biology series. It contains essays that deal in detail with particular biological processes: morphogenesis of pattern, the development of neuronal networks, evolutionary processes, and others. The main thrust of this volume brings relevance to the general underlying nature of living systems. Faced with trying to understand how the complexity of molecular microstates leads to the relative simplicity of phenome structures, Waddington-on behalf of his colleagues-stresses on the structure of language as a paradigm for a theory of general biology. This is language in an imperative mood: a set of symbols, organized by some form of generative grammar, making possible the conveyance of commands for action to produce effects on the surroundings of the emitting and the receiving entities. "Biology," he writes, "is concerned with algorithm and program." Among the contributions in this volume are: "The Riemann-Hugoniot Catastrophe and van der Waals Equation," David H. Fowler; "Differential Equations for the Heartbeat and Nerve Impulse," E. Christopher Zeeman; "Structuralism and Biology," Rene Thom; "The Concept of Positional Information and Pattern Formation," Lewis Wolpert; "Pattern Formation in Fibroblast Cultures," Tom Elsdale; "Form and Information," C. H. Waddington; "Organizational Principles for Theoretical Neurophysiology," Michael A. Arbib; "Stochastic Models of Neuroelectric Activity," Jack D. Cowan. Biological Processes in Living Systems is a pioneering volume by recognized leaders in an ever-growing field.

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Psychology & Counseling

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