The biological way of thought

"Describes the special methods of concept formation and explanation that distinguish biology from the other natural sciences. Beckner examines biological subject matter and biological theory, His method of approach is dual: through a logical analysis of historical, functional, and polytypic concepts and an examination of their role in achieving theoretical unification; and through a logical analysis of model-explanation, teleology, and historical explanation. The results of this investigation are applied to a number of standing problems in biological methodology--for example, the significance of holistic versus reductive points of view, the logical character of the taxonomic system, and the nature of explanation in evolution theory"--From publisher description.