Denis Noble’s Philosophy of Biology
The Proposal of an “Active Darwinism” and the Need for a Biology Beyond Genes for the 21st Century
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.48160/18532330me15.382Keywords:
Denis Noble, Darwinism, genes, antirreductionismAbstract
This article provides an introduction to Denis Noble’s philosophy of biology. The “passive Darwinism” derived from the gene-centered perspective on evolution considers that the agency exhibited by living organisms is an apparent phenomenon, whose true causes are molecular or genetic. In contrast, Denis Noble defends an “active Darwinism” based on two principles: (1) the anti-reductionist principle, according to which higher levels of organization in biological systems can constrain lower levels, and their agency is therefore not reducible to that of the latter; (2) the relativist principle of biology, which more generally denies the existence of a privileged level of causation in biological systems. Framed within the organicist tradition, Noble’s “biology beyond the genes” offers a reconceptualization of biological systems that shifts the explanatory focus from the primacy of genes to a more dynamic and reciprocal conception of causal interactions between levels of biological organization.
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