The Immune Self: Theory or Metaphor?

ISBN-13: 9780521461887 / Angielski / Twarda / 1994 / 368 str.

Alfred I. Tauber (Boston University)

Opis

The Immune Self is a critical study of immunology from its origins at the end of the nineteenth century to its contemporary formulation. The book offers the first extended philosophical critique of immunology, in which the function of the term "self" that underlies the structure of current immune theory is analyzed. However, this analysis is carefully integrated into a broad survey of the major scientific developments in immunology, a discussion of their historical context, and a review of the conceptual arguments that have molded this sophisticated modern science.

Recenzje

"Alfred I. Tauber, a philosopher of science and an immunologist, has written a major book persuasive enough to make it impossible to separate his activities as a scientist from the philosophical construction of his field." Sander L. Gilman, American Historical Review

Spis treści

Introduction; 1. The phagocytosis theory; 2. The triumph of immunology; 3. The immune self declared; 4. From theory to metaphor; 5. Immunology gropes for its theory; 6. The self and the phenomenological attitude; 7. The self as organism: a philosophical consideration; 8. The search for identity; Notes; Index.