In the wake of recent attempts at alternate history (Bowler 2013), this paper suggests several avenues for a pluralistic approach to Charles Darwin and his role in the history of evolutionary theory. We examine in what sense Darwin could be described as a major driver of theoretical change in the history of biology. First, this paper examines how Darwin influenced the future of biological science: not merely by stating the fact of evolution or by bringing evidence for it; but by (...) discovering natural selection, and giving it pre-eminence over any other mechanism for evolution; and also by proposing a masterful and quite unique synthesis of many scientific fields. Contrasting Darwin’s views with those of A.R. Wallace, I conclude that “natural selection” is clearly an original contribution, that it had no forerunners or co-discoverers, and could barely have appeared after Darwin conceived of it. This specificity of Darwin’s contribution is an invitation to be strongly presentist (Loison 2016) and to adopt only weak counter-factuals. In contrast, there are possible ways to use strong counter-factuals as attempts to “pluralize” the history of biological theory: i.e. imagine new possible avenues for the development of evolutionary biology. The idea that evolution was a theory “in the air” suggests that evolutionary theory could have developed in a world without Darwin, especially if we accept to delete not only “Darwin” but “England”. France and Germany are examined as possible countries where evolutionary ideas would have thrived even with no contribution from the English scientists. Finally, the paper suggests another counter-factual hypothesis: deleting not Darwin and his Origin but the Darwin Industry itself. This may allow us to read the Origin of Species with fresh eyes and to discover Darwin’s life-long interest in variation and its laws, as many of his early readers did. (shrink)

Is it possible, and in the first place is it even desirable, to define what "development" means and to determine the scope of the field called "developmental biology"? Though these questions appeared crucial for the founders of "developmental biology" in the 1950s, there seems to be no consensus today about the need to address them. Here, in a combined biological, philosophical, and historical approach, we ask whether it is possible and useful to define biological development, and, if such a definition (...) is indeed possible and useful, which definition can be considered as the most satisfactory. (shrink)

ABSTRACT During the first half of the nineteenth century, while Georges Cuvier ruled over natural history and the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle (MHN) was at its institutional acme, a French banker and industrialist with a Swiss family background, Benjamin Delessert, was developing an important botanical museum in Paris. His private collection included both a rich botanical library and a massive herbarium: the close integration of these two dimensions, together with the magnanimity of Delessert’s patronage, contributed to making this private institution a (...) worthy rival to the powerful and state-funded MHN. Delessert’s museum had the favor of both professional and amateur naturalists. Knowledgeable and dedicated assistants (Antoine Guillemin and Antoine Lasègue) curated the collections. Moreover, Delessert was an intimate friend of the Genevan botanist Augustin-Pyramus de Candolle. Although Delessert’s herbarium followed the Linnaean order, the Delessert Botanical Museum (DBM) contributed to the development of Candolle’s natural system, especially through the publication of costly volumes of engravings, the Icones selectae plantarum rariorum. This essay draws together the main steps in the evolution of Delessert’s collections, stressing the interdependency between books and dried plants. It focuses on the DBM as a case of cooperation between institutional and amateur expertise, private and public collections, and field collectors and cabinet naturalists. (shrink)

This root-and-branch reevaluation of Darwin's concept of sexual selection tackles the subject from historical, epistemological and theoretical perspectives. Contributions from a wealth of disciplines have been marshaled for this volume, with key figures in behavioural ecology, philosophy, and the history of science adding to its wide-ranging relevance. Updating the reader on the debate currently live in behavioural ecology itself on the centrality of sexual selection, and with coverage of developments in the field of animal aesthetics, the book details the current (...) state of play, while other chapters trace the history of sexual selection from Darwin to today and inquire into the neurobiological bases for partner choices and the comparisons between the hedonic brain in human and non-human animals. Welcome space is given to the social aspects of sexual selection, particularly where Darwin drew distinctions between eager males and coy females and rationalized this as evolutionary strategy. Also explored are the current definition of sexual selection (as opposed to natural selection) and its importance in today's biological research, and the impending critique of the theory from the nascent field of animal aesthetics. As a comprehensive assessment of the current health, or otherwise, of Darwin's theory, 140 years after the publication of his Descent of Man, the book offers a uniquely rounded view that asks whether 'sexual selection' is in itself a progressive or reactionary notion, even as it explores its theoretical relevance in the technical biological study of the twenty-first century. (shrink)

Loin d’être une entité anhistorique, l’homosexualité masculine se caractérise par les différentes formes de subjectivation auxquelles elle a donné lieu. Ainsi, la décennie 1970 voit s’opposer trois modes rivaux de subjectivité homosexuelle : l’homophile, représenté en France par l’association Arcadie, fondée par André Baudry (1922-2018) et éditrice d’un périodique paru de 1954 à 1982 ; le gay, émergeant dans le sillage des événements de Stonewall à New York (1969), et donnant naissance à un Front Gay de Libération ; l’homosexualité révolutionnaire (...) telle qu’elle prend forme après 1968 dans l’éphémère Front homosexuel d’action révolutionnaire (FHAR) dont les positions sont présentées ici principalement à travers les thèses de Guy Hocquenghem (1946-1988). Loin de représenter un simple clivage intergénérationnel, ces oppositions représentent avant tout différentes conceptions sociales et politiques de l’homosexualité, différentes manières de penser la communauté, mais aussi des modes de subjectivité dans lesquels la vie homosexuelle peut s’incarner dans la période antérieure à l’épidémie de sida. (shrink)

Is it possible to be a socio-biologist and a feminist? Socio-biology has been accused of being a macho ideological arsenal, which seems to exclude in advance any possibility of amending it. However that was the project of several female researchers (in particular S. B. Hrdy and P. A. Gowaty), who suggested adopting the science’s theoretical framework in order to change it from within. This has been expressed in a change of focus: an appeal to take account of female strategies and (...) their evolution as well as the "sex war" at work in process of reproduction. This opening out of socio-biology’s theoretical framework has not been undertaken in the name of the privilege of a "female perspective" but it has without a doubt been nourished by the researchers’ marginal position in their discipline as well as their political involvement. "Male" contributions, such as W. G. Eberhard’s work on the "female’s cryptic choice", are also part of this movement though they do not claim allegiance to it. Similarly, a critical study has been carried out on the vocabulary of socio-biology: not in order to exercise a "politically correct" ideological tyranny but to improve the efficiency of the conceptual tools introduced by the science. Today some feminists think feminism should incorporate socio-biology’s results but resistance still remains strong. Though many feminists think feminism has more to bring to biology than the reverse, many biologists consider that feminism is just an ideology that should remain apart from scientific work. (shrink)

La physique à laquelle aspire Buffon rompt avec la mathématique. Pour cela, il lui faut une méthode propre, la comparaison, et une logique propre, celle de la relation. Les résultats de cette science relationnelle ont ceci de particulier qu’ils peuvent s’ordonner en un tableau. Nous étudions dans cet article les questions que suscitent l’abandon du paradigme mathématique et l’adoption d’une méthode comparative, aussi bien pour ce qui concerne la théorie de la connaissance , la logique , le type d’objet que (...) se donne désormais la physique. (shrink)

This paper focuses on the geography of the botanical community in Paris, under the July Monarchy. At that time, the Muséum d’Histoire naturelle was at its institutional acme and, under the impulse of François Guizot, its budget was increasing dramatically. However, closer attention to manuscript sources reveals that the botanists of the time favoured other private institutions, located both on the Right and Left Banks of the Seine. The MHN was prestigious for its collections and professors but it was relatively (...) remote from the centre of Paris, and its plant samples were sometimes difficult to access. Several other first-class private herbaria granted liberal access to botanists: those of Jacques Gay, Phillip Barker Webb, and Benjamin Delessert. Thanks to their wealth, these plant amateurs had ownership of historical herbaria consisting of species types alongside rich botanical libraries. Botanists visiting Paris from foreign countries or other provinces of France also spent some time studying less general plant collections, like those of Count Jaubert, or specialized collections, like Montagne’s or Léveillé’s on cryptogams. Other botanists also enjoyed renown at the time, although they published little, if anything. Living in crammed apartments, literally in the middle of their plant samples, these botanists were key nodes in botanical networks, although they had no relation with the prestigious MHN. (shrink)

La philosophie de la biologie est un domaine extrêmement actif de la recherche dans la tradition philosophique anglo-saxonne. Elle réunit philosophes et biologistes autour de la question de la définition des concepts fondamentaux : gène, cellule, organisme, espèce, développement, évolution, adaptation, etc. Ce livre, qui rassemble les contributions d’une trentaine de spécialistes français et étrangers, présente en 24 chapitres l’état de la recherche actuelle dans tous les principaux domaines de la biologie. Il peut être utilisé comme manuel pour les cours (...) de philosophie des sciences au niveau Master. (shrink)