Functions: From Organisms to Artefacts / History, Philosophy and Theory of the Life Sciences Bd.32 (PDF)

Jean Gayon



Jean Gayon's works have developed in two directions: philosophy and the history of life sciences. His historical work focuses mainly on the 19th and 20th centuries: population biology and biometrics, the theory of evolution, genetics. His philosophical work has itself developed in the following directions: (1) The conceptual clarification of a number of issues commonly addressed by what has been called since the 1970s the philosophy of biology; for example: the concept of species, the structure of the theory of evolution, units of selection, chance. (2) The analysis of some of the typical figures of "biological philosophies" of the 19th and 20th centuries (Bernard, Nietzsche, Pearson, Canguilhem, Dagognet, Sober, Grene, etc.). (3) An involvement in some ethical-political issues related to life and health sciences: genetic improvement of humanity, eugenics, human races.




In addition to this work on the history and philosophy of biology, Jean Gayon also has contributions on issues relating to the general philosophy of science and its history.







Armand de Ricqlès



Armand de Ricqlès is a French paleobiologist best known for his work in bone histology and its implications for the growth and thermometabolism of dinosaurs. He worked in the University of Paris (and later Université paris VII) from 1961 till 1995, when he was nominated to a chair of Historical and Evolutionary Biology at the Collège de France. He officially retired in 2010, but he continues publishing.



Armand de Ricqlès initially worked on the functional significance of extant bone histodiversity, and applied this newly gained knowledge in paleobiological inferences. He has collaborated with several histologists and paleontologists, including Melvin Glimcher, Timothy G. Bromage, John R. Horner, and Kevin Padian. In his career, he promoted the introduction of cladistics at the University and influenced several students