------------continued from previous message--------- ----------------3 of 5-------------- Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1998 15:15:39 +-100 From: W3odzimierz £ugowski <[log in to unmask]> New book by members: UROBOROS, OR BIOLOGY BETWEEN MYTHOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY Edited by WLODZIMIERZ LUGOWSKI (Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences) and KOICHIRO MATSUNO (Dept. of BioEngineering, Nagaoka University of Technology) Wroc’aw 1998 Arboretum ISBN 83-86308-27-3 Paperback. 320 pp. $ 20.00 The scope of the volume are the ontological and methodological problems of contemporary life sciences viewed from the non-positivist perspective, with special attention to the philosophical foundations of contemporary theories of prebiological and biological evolution. Among the authors are philosophers and eminent scientists from several continents. Contents Part I. BIOLOGY BETWEEN MYTHOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY WLODZIMIERZ LUGOWSKI (Warsaw), In venenoso Dracone summam medicinam inesse, or on the philosophy and mythology of biology STANLEY N. SALTHE (New York), Science as the basis of a new mythological understanding GERHARD VOLLMER (Braunschweig), The limits of biology TEOMAN DURALI (Istanbul), Philosophy-Science from the biotic standpoint DAIL W. MULLINS (Birmingham), The mythology of Western scientific materialism and the rise of the evolutionary epic Part II. THE PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE'S ORIGIN HARMKE KAMMINGA (Cambridge), Theory construction in biology. The case of the origin of life KOICHIRO MATSUNO (Nagaoka), The uncertainty principle and the origins of life: an odd couple GAIL R. FLEISCHAKER (Boston), The myth of the putative 'first organism' ANTHONIE W.J. MULLER (Amsterdam/Edinburgh), Thermosynthesis: where biology meets thermodynamics STANLEY N. SALTHE (New York), Formal considerations on the origin of life Part III. EVOLUTIONARY THEORY AND METATHEORY FRANZ R. KRUEGER (Darmstadt), Between metaphysics and meta- biology. The concept of information in evolutionary metatheory PAWEœ GRIEB (Warsaw), Evolution as a means of existence of living matter JORGE GONZALEZ-GONZALEZ (Mexico), Transformed and altered processes. Foundations for a process-based theory of biological knowledge JUAN MANUEL TORRES (Bahia Blanca), On prediction in biology and evolutionary theory KRZYSZTOF œASTOWSKI (Poznan), On the origins of sociobiology Part IV. UNDERSTANDING COMPLEXITY YUKIO GUNJI, MASAO MIGITA, SHIN'ICHI TOYODA (Kobe), From state- to measurement-oriented theory. Degeneracy of a proper noun SAHOTRA SARKAR (Montreal), Reductionism and functional explanation in molecular biology GERTRUDIS VAN DE VIJVER (Gent), Internalism versus externalism: a matter of choice? JOSE C. B. TIAGO DE OLIVEIRA (Lisbon), The geometries of three ancient kingdoms WœODZIMIERZ KLONOWSKI (Warsaw/Halifax), Omnis felicitas ex felicitate: physicalistic concept of happiness This book can be ordered directly from the publishers; remit check or money order for 20 USD to: Oficyna Wydawnicza Arboretum - Arboretum Publishing House ˜wi‘tokrzyska 34/16, 50-327 Wroc’aw, Poland Editorial offices: phone: (48-71) 327 83 32 Sales department: phone: (48-601) 79 51 34 Bank account: 10601682-077796-27000-460101 Bank Przemys’owo-Handlowy S.A., II Oddzia’, Wroc’aw --------------4 of 5----------------------- Date: Thu, 08 Oct 1998 21:09:11 -0400 From: Douglas Starr <[log in to unmask]> New book "BLOOD: An Epic History of Medicine and Commerce" Published by Knopf/Random House. >From the jacket cover: "Essence and emblem of life--feared, revered, mythologized, and used in magic and medicine from earliest times--human blood is now the center of a huge, secretive, and often dangerous worldwide commerce. It is a commerce whose impact upon humanity rivals that of any other business--millions of lives have been saved by blood and its various derivatives, and tens of thousands of lives have been lost. Douglas Starr tells how this came to be, in a sweeping history that ranges through the centuries." >From reviews: The New York Times: "Starr tells all this in sprightly, vigorous fashion, smoothly explaining the technical side of things...a rich story, admirably told." Business Week: "...a brightly written, intriguing, and disquieting book, with some important lessons for public health." Publishers Weekly: "Clear-eyed and wrought with superb attention to detail, this is first-class science writing, with a striking message." Toronto Globe and Mail: "...In its international scope, years of research, and implications for our collective future, 'BLOOD' is truly an epic." Table of Contents: BLOOD MAGIC 1. The Blood of a Gentle Calf 2. "There is No Remedy as Miraculous as Bleeding" 3. A Strange Agglutination BLOOD WARS 4. Blood on the Hoof 5. Prelude to a Blood Bath 6. War Begins 7. Blood Cracks Like Oil 8. Blood at the Front BLOOD MONEY 9. Dr. Naito 10. Dr. Cohn 11. The Blood Boom 12. Bad Blood 13. Wildcat Days 14. The Blood Resources Complex 15. Outbreak 16. "All our Lots Are Contaminated" 17. Judgment 18. Epilog: Blood in a Post-AIDS Society -------5 of 5---------------------- Conference: ON HUMAN NATURE. Biological Approaches and Philosophical Reflections. Conference Dates: March 15 - 18, 1999 Location: Dorint Hotel and Congress Center, Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, Germany Conference Language: English The conference is organized by the EUROPEAN ACADEMY for the Study of Consequences of Scientific and Technological Advance Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler GmbH, in cooperation with the Research Project: “Genome and Organism” (from Christoph Rehmann-Sutter and Eva M. Neumann-Held), supported by the Foundation “Mensch-Gesellschaft-Umwelt” of the University Basel. The Symposium will have five sections on: Perspectives on Anthropology; Human Genetics; Genes, Evolution and Human Nature; Perception, Cognition and Mind; Technicalization of Man: Cultural Impacts and Ethical Problems. Contributors will include: Ad Aertzen (Freiburg, Germany), Olaf Breidbach (Jena, Germany), Thomas Cremer (München, Germany), Hans-Rainer Duncker (Giessen, Germany), Scott F. Gilbert (Swarthmore, PA, USA), Brian Goodwin (London, UK), Paul Griffiths (Sydney, Australia), Mathias Gutmann (Bad-Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, Germany), Henk ten Have (Nijmegen, The Netherlands), Ludger Honnefelder (Bonn, Germany), Peter Janich (Marburg, Germany), Helga Kuhse (Clayton, Victoria, Australia), Rolf Loether (Berlin, Germany), Alexandre Mauron (Geneve, Switzerland), Renato Mazzolini (Trento, Italy), Eva M. Neumann-Held (Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, Germany), Geoff Parker (Liverpool, UK), Susan Oyama (New York, NY, USA), Oswald Schwemmer (Berlin, Germany), Christoph Rehmann-Sutter (Basel, Switzerland), Michael Weingarten (Marburg, Germany), Ulrich Wolf (Freiburg, Germany). DEADLINE for REGISTRATION: Feb. 1, 1999 Conference Fee: DM 200,-; (students: DM 100,-), all other costs excluded. For further information, please contact: European Academy Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler GmbH Ms. Dagmar Uhl Landskroner Str. 175 Postfach 1460 D-53459 Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler Germany Tel.: +49-(0) 2641 754 300 Fax: +49 ñ (0) 2641 754 320 email: [log in to unmask]