Discovering life, manufacturing life : how the experimental method shaped life sciences / by Pierre V. Vignais, Paulette Vignais. — Dordrecht ; London : Springer, 2010. – (58.04/V678)

Contents

    CONTENTS
    
    Chapter I The roots of experimental science from Ancient Greece to the Renaissance
    1. Scientific rationality in Ancient Greece
    2. The philosophical and technological heritage of the Middle Ages
    3. Conclusion-At the dawn of the scientific method
    Chapter II The birth of the experimental method in the 17th and 18th centuries
    1. The discovery of the circulation of the blood by W. HARVEY
    2. How were the movements of the heart and the blood explained before HARVEY?
    3. The first， faltering steps of experimental science applied to living beings 63
    4. The experimental method and its impact on the physical sciences in the 17th century
    5. Opening up chemistry to quantitative experimentation in the 18th century
    6. Experimental science as seen by the philosophers of the 17th and 18th centuries
    7. Is there an explanatory logic for the birth of the experimental method? 124
    8. Conclusion - The mariage of techniques and ideas
    Chapter III The impact of determinism in the life sciences of the 19th and 20th centuries
    1. The recognition of physiology as an experimental science in the 19th century
    2. Determinism， the philosophical foundation stone of experimental physiology
    3. The impact of technology on the life sciences in the 19th century
    4. New disciplines in the life sciences in the 19th century and their methodological support
    5. The idea of quantification in the life sciences
    6. A new experimental order for the life sciences in the 20th century
    7. Opening up biological experimentation to reductionism
    8. The experimental method faced with contemporary trends in philosophy and in social life
    9. Conclusion - Determinism and the expansion of the experimental method From the organ to the molecule
    Chapter IV Challenges for experimentation on living beings at the dawn of the 21st century
    1. The accession of biotechnology Towards a new paradigm for the experimental method
    2. Towards a mastery of the functions of living beings for utilitarian purposes
    3. The progress of medicine face to face with the experimental method 283
    4. Towards a global understanding of the functions of living beings
    5. The design and meaning of words in the experimental process
    6. The experimental method， understanding of living beings and society
    7. The place of the scientific researcher in the changing role of biotechnology..
    8. Conclusion Looking at the present in the light of the past
    Chapter V Epilogue
    Bibliography
    Index of personal names
    Index of subjects
    List of illustrations
    Glossary