Book by Levins, Richard, Lewontin, Richard C.

The dialectical biologist

Science & Math

Levins, Richard

Biological Sciences

Harvard University Press

Scientists act within a social context and from a philosophical perspective that is inherently political. Whether they realize it or not, scientists always choose sides. The Dialectical Biologist explores this political nature of scientific inquiry, advancing its argument within the framework of Marxist dialectic. These essays stress the concepts of continual change and codetermination between organism and environment, part and whole, structure and process, science and politics. Throughout, this book questions our accepted definitions and biases, showing the self-reflective nature of scientific activity within society.

The Dialectical Biologist

In this modern era of mathematical modeling, applications have become increasingly complicated. As the complexity grows, it becomes more and more difficult to draw meaningful conclusions about the behavior of theoretical models and their relations to reality. Alongside methods that emphasize quantitative properties and the testing of scientific details, there is a need for approaches that are more qualitative. These techniques attempt to cover whole families of models in one bold stroke, in a manner that allows robust conclusions to be drawn about them.   Loop analysis and time averaging provide a means of interpreting the properties of systems from the network of interactions within the system. The authors' methodology concentrates on graphical representation to guide experimental design, to identify sources of external variability from the statistical pattern of variables, and to make management decisions.   Although most of the examples are drawn from ecology, the methods are relevant to all of the pure and applied sciences. This relevance is enhanced by case studies from such diverse areas as physiology, resource management, the behavioral sciences, and social epidemiology. The book will be useful to a broad readership from the biological and social sciences as well as the physical sciences and technology. It will interest undergraduate and graduate students along with researchers active in these disciplines. Here the reader will find a strong rationale for maintaining a holistic approach, revealing what insights and advantages are retained by the broader perspective and, more explicitly, by the synergistic effects that cannot be discerned by reducing systems to their smallest parts.

Qualitative Modeling of Complex Systems: An Introduction to Loop Analysis and Time Averaging

Politics & Social Sciences

Puccia, Charles J.

Social Sciences

In this modern era of mathematical modeling, applications have become increasingly complicated. As the complexity grows, it becomes more and more difficult to draw meaningful conclusions about the behavior of theoretical models and their relations to reality. Alongside methods that emphasize quantitative properties and the testing of scientific details, there is a need for approaches that are more qualitative. These techniques attempt to cover whole families of models in one bold stroke, in a manner that allows robust conclusions to be drawn about them.  Loop analysis and time averaging provide a means of interpreting the properties of systems from the network of interactions within the system. The authors' methodology concentrates on graphical representation to guide experimental design, to identify sources of external variability from the statistical pattern of variables, and to make management decisions.  Although most of the examples are drawn from ecology, the methods are relevant to all of the pure and applied sciences. This relevance is enhanced by case studies from such diverse areas as physiology, resource management, the behavioral sciences, and social epidemiology. The book will be useful to a broad readership from the biological and social sciences as well as the physical sciences and technology. It will interest undergraduate and graduate students along with researchers active in these disciplines. Here the reader will find a strong rationale for maintaining a holistic approach, revealing what insights and advantages are retained by the broader perspective and, more explicitly, by the synergistic effects that cannot be discerned by reducing systems to their smallest parts.

Professor Levins, one of the leading explorers in the field of integrated population biology, considers the mutual interpenetration and joint evolution of organism and environment, occurring on several levels at once. Physiological and behavioral adaptations to short-term fluctuations of the environment condition the responses of populations to long-term changes and geographic gradients. These in turn affect the way species divide the environments among themselves in communities, and, therefore, the numbers of species which can coexist. Environment is treated here abstractly as pattern: patchiness, variability, range, etc. Populations are studied in their patterns: local heterogeneity, geographic variability, faunistic diversity, etc.

Evolution in Changing Environments: Some Theoretical Explorations. (MPB-2) (Monographs in Population Biology, 2)

Princeton University Press

Evolution in Changing Environments: Some Theoretical Explorations (Monographs in Population Biology, 2)

Analyzes the relations of humanity to nature from the different perspectives of ecological science and the environmental movement. The authors argue that the ecology movement is a mass of contradictions and is in part paralyzed by turning to the past in search of a lost paradise, a state when humanity and nature were "in balance". The social history of nature and the natural history of humanity are analyzed from the mutually supporting viewpoints of environmental movements and ecological science. Environmental movements can be successful only if they adopt the political perspective of human liberation, and the science of ecology needs to unite the concerns of the science with those of the movement.

Humanity and Nature: Ecology, Science and Society

Haila, Yrjo

Sociology

Pluto Press

Disease in Evolution: Global Changes and Emergence of Infectious Diseases (Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences)

Wilson, Mary E.

Health, Fitness & Dieting

New York Academy of Sciences

Global changes and emergence of infectious diseases.

Medical Books

Spielman A.

Medicine

How do we understand the world? While some look to the heavens for intelligent design, others argue that it is determined by information encoded in DNA. Science serves as an important activity for uncovering the processes and operations of nature, but it is also immersed in a social context where ideology influences the questions we ask and how we approach the material world. Biology Under the Influence: Dialectical Essays on the Coevolution of Nature and Society breaks from the confirms of determinism, offering a dialectical analysis for comprehending a dynamic social and natural world.
In Biology Under the Influence, Richard Lewontin and Richard Levins provide a devastating critique of genetic determinism and reductionism within science while exploring a broad range of issues including the nature of science, biology, evolution, the environment, pubic health, and dialectics, They dismantle the ideology that attempts to naturalize social inequalities, unveil the alienation of science and nature, and illustrate how a dialectical position serves as a basis for grappling with historical developments and a world characterized by change. Biology Under the Influence brings together the illuminating essays of two prominent scientists who work to demystify and empower the public's understanding of science and nature.

Biology Under the Influence: Dialectical Essays on Ecology, agriculture, and health

Lewontin, Richard

Monthly Review+press

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Books by Levins, Richard

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Levins, Richard. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The dialectical biologist

The Dialectical Biologist

Qualitative Modeling of Complex Systems: An Introduction to Loop Analysis and Time Averaging

Qualitative Modeling of Complex Systems: An Introduction to Loop Analysis and Time Averaging

Evolution in Changing Environments: Some Theoretical Explorations. (MPB-2) (Monographs in Population Biology, 2)

Evolution in Changing Environments: Some Theoretical Explorations (Monographs in Population Biology, 2)

Humanity and Nature: Ecology, Science and Society

Disease in Evolution: Global Changes and Emergence of Infectious Diseases (Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences)

Disease in Evolution: Global Changes and Emergence of Infectious Diseases (Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences)

Biology Under the Influence: Dialectical Essays on Ecology, agriculture, and health