Levels of organization in the biological sciences. vienna series in theoretical biology edited by daniel s. brooks, james difrisco, and william c. wimsatt
Simpson, C. 2023. Levels of Organization in the Biological Sciences. Vienna Series in Theoretical Biology edited by Daniel S. Brooks, James DiFrisco, and William C. Wimsatt. The Quarterly Review of Biology 2023 98:2, 88-88
As a graduate student I sat knee to knee with Leigh Van Valen in his tiny overstuffed office annex. I mentioned I was interested in levels of selection, and he replied in his way, “Ooh.” I had no idea what he meant—did he mean there is no such thing as levels? Did he mean he was also interested in them? Over the years this conversation continued as he passed along his own reprints. Of course, he was interested in levels. All of Van Valen’s insights into levels were bound into a domain he termed “the evolutionary half of biology.” He defined this on the back page of his journal Evolutionary Theory as “that part of biology where the center of interest is on organisms and populations, i.e., on the phenotype and its various interrelations rather than on mole- cules and cells for their own sake.” But the evolutionary half of biology is just that, half. The current volume, Levels of Organization in the Biological Sciences takes the full view—organisms, cells, molecules, and all. From this broad perspective the utility of levels is more varied and less clearly useful. This book helps make sense of when levels can help and when they cannot.