Levels of Organization in the Biological Sciences

  • Co-edited by D.S. Brooks,

    J. DiFrisco and W.C. Wimsatt

This volume collects 15 essays on the concept of levels or organization in biology.

An interview with the editors, conducted by Lynn Chiu, is available here.

Peer Reviewed Articles

Brooks, D.S. and J. Baedke. 2023. “Biological Agency Without Levels.” In Spontaneous Generations: A Journal for the History and Philosophy of Science. [pp. forthcoming]

Brooks, D.S. 2023. “Themes of Consolidation in Eugene P. Odum's Publicization of the Levels Concept in Ecology Textbooks, 1953-1975.” In Perspectives on Science. 31 (4): 437–464

Brooks, D.S. 2021. “Adaptive Design, Contingency, and Ontological Principles for Limited Beings.” In Philosophy of Science. 88(5): 871–881

 

Brooks, D.S., J. DiFrisco, and W.C. Wimsatt. 2021. “Levels of Organization: The Architecture of the Scientific Image.” In Levels of Organization in the Biological Sciences, edited by D.S. Brooks, J. DiFrisco, and W.C. Wimsatt, pp. 1-19. MIT Press

 

Brooks, D.S. 2021. “‘Levels of Organization’ as Tool and Doctrine in Biology.” In Levels of Organization in the Biological Sciences, edited by D.S. Brooks, J. DiFrisco, and W.C. Wimsatt, pp. 39-59. MIT Press

Brooks, D.S. 2021. “A New Look at Levels of Organization in Biology.” In Erkenntnis, 86: 1483–1508

 

Brooks, D.S. 2019. “Conceptual Heterogeneity and the Legacy of Organicism: Thoughts on The Life Organic.” In History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences. 41:24.

 

Stiefel, K.M. and D.S. Brooks. 2019. “Why is There No Successful Whole Brain Simulation (Yet)?” In Biological Theory. 14(2): 122–130

 

Brooks, D.S. and M.I. Eronen. 2018. “The Significance of ‘Levels of Organization’ for Scientific Research: A Heuristic Approach.” In Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences. 68: 34-41

 

Eronen, M.I., and D.S. Brooks. 2018. “Levels of Organization in Biology.” In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy URL:  <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2018/entries/levels-org-biology/>

 

Brooks, D.S. 2017. “In Defense of Levels: Layer-cakes and Guilt by Association.” In Biological Theory. 12(3): 142–156

 

Brooks, D.S. 2014. “The Role of Models in the Process of Epistemic Integration: The Case of the Reichardt Motion Detector.” In History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences. Vol. 36(1): 90-113

 

Eronen, M.I. and D.S. Brooks. 2014. “Interventionism and Supervenience: A New Problem and Provisional Solution”. In International Studies in the Philosophy of Science. Vol. 28(2): 185-202