{"product_id":"the-life-organic-erik-l-peterson-9780822968153","title":"The Life Organic: The Theoretical Biology Club and the Roots of Epigenetics","description":"As scientists debated the nature of life in the nineteenth century, two theories predominated: vitalism, which suggested that living things contained a \"vital spark,\" and mechanism, the idea that animals and humans differed from nonliving things only in their degree of complexity. Erik L. Peterson tells the forgotten story of the pursuit of a Third Way in biology, known by many names, including \"the organic philosophy,\" which gave rise to C. H. Waddington's work in the subfield of epigenetics: an alternative to standard genetics and evolutionary biology that captured the attention of notable scientists from Francis Crick to Stephen Jay Gould. \u003ci\u003eThe Life Organic\u003c\/i\u003e chronicles the influential biologists, mathematicians, philosophers, and biochemists from both sides of the Atlantic who formed Joseph Needham's Theoretical Biology Club, defined and refined Third-Way thinking through the 1930s, and laid the groundwork for some of the most cutting-edge achievements in biology today. By tracing the persistence of organicism into the twenty-first century, this book also raises significant questions about how we should model the development of the discipline of biology going forward.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Erik L. Peterson\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0822968150\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780822968153\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Pittsburgh Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 01\/20\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 352\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.04lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.79d","brand":"Erik L. Peterson","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48154239074559,"sku":"9780822968153","price":40.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_cf903cfb-3fd8-4358-9d21-5870f3e83297.jpg?v=1770788828","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-life-organic-erik-l-peterson-9780822968153","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}