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From biology to economics to information theory, the theme of interdependence is in the air, framing our experiences of all sorts of everyday phenomena. Indeed, the network may be the ascendant metaphor of our time. Yet precisely because the language of interdependence has become so commonplace as to be almost banal, we miss some of its most surprising and far-reaching implications.
In Interdependence, biologist Kriti Sharma offers a compelling alternative to the popular view that interdependence simply means independent things interacting. Sharma systematically shows how interdependence entails the mutual constitution of one thing by another-how all things come into being only in a system of dependence on others.
In a step-by-step account filled with vivid examples, Sharma shows how a coherent view of interdependence can help make sense not only of a range of everyday experiences but also of the most basic functions of living cells. With particular attention to the fundamental biological problem of how cells pick up signals from their surroundings, Sharma shows that only an account which replaces the perspective of "individual cells interacting with external environments" with one centered in interdependent, recursive systems can adequately account for how life works.
This book will be of interest to biologists and philosophers, to theorists of science, of systems, and of cybernetics, and to anyone curious about how life works. Clear, concise, and insightful, Interdependence: Biology and Beyond explicitly offers a coherent and practical philosophy ofinterdependence and will help shape what interdependence comes to mean in the twenty-first century.
From biology to economics to information theory, the theme of interdependence is in the air, framing our experiences of all sorts of everyday phenomena. Indeed, the network may be the ascendant...
From biology to economics to information theory, the theme of interdependence is in the air, framing our experiences of all sorts of everyday phenomena. Indeed, the network may be the ascendant metaphor of our time. Yet precisely because the language of interdependence has become so commonplace as to be almost banal, we miss some of its most surprising and far-reaching implications.
In Interdependence, biologist Kriti Sharma offers a compelling alternative to the popular view that interdependence simply means independent things interacting. Sharma systematically shows how interdependence entails the mutual constitution of one thing by another-how all things come into being only in a system of dependence on others.
In a step-by-step account filled with vivid examples, Sharma shows how a coherent view of interdependence can help make sense not only of a range of everyday experiences but also of the most basic functions of living cells. With particular attention to the fundamental biological problem of how cells pick up signals from their surroundings, Sharma shows that only an account which replaces the perspective of "individual cells interacting with external environments" with one centered in interdependent, recursive systems can adequately account for how life works.
This book will be of interest to biologists and philosophers, to theorists of science, of systems, and of cybernetics, and to anyone curious about how life works. Clear, concise, and insightful, Interdependence: Biology and Beyond explicitly offers a coherent and practical philosophy ofinterdependence and will help shape what interdependence comes to mean in the twenty-first century.
Advance Praise
“In
setting forth her vision of contingentism—that objects are really webs of
processes contingent on multiple interacting conditions—Sharma moves eloquently
back and forth between biology and philosophy. The book is a model of
accessible but serious and elegant science writing.”—Evan Thompson, University
of British Columbia
“Interdependence is an exceptionally original work of comprehensive theorizing.
Conceptually subtle, empirically rigorous, and compellingly argued, it
addresses some of the most fundamental questions in theoretical biology and
demonstrates their close relation to central problems in our ideas of
knowledge, existence, and reality.”—Barbara Herrnstein Smith, author,
Scandalous Knowledge: Science, Truth and the Human
“Kriti Sharma has written a remarkable book that moves seamlessly from the
empirical world of biology—indeed, the microscales of test tubes and cells and
molecules—to the consideration of the broadest philosophical concepts that
define how we comprehend existence itself. The writing is lively and the
illustrations are drawn from a wide and interdisciplinary range of sources and
experiences, yet the development of the ideas is scholarly, careful, and well
documented. Interdependence: Biology and Beyond will elevate and churn your
thinking. It is Sharma’s first book and the reader feels privileged to be
present at the start of an exciting intellectual journey.”—Peter White,
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
“In setting forth her vision of contingentism—that objects are really webs of processes contingent on multiple interacting conditions—Sharma moves eloquently back and forth between biology and...
“In
setting forth her vision of contingentism—that objects are really webs of
processes contingent on multiple interacting conditions—Sharma moves eloquently
back and forth between biology and philosophy. The book is a model of
accessible but serious and elegant science writing.”—Evan Thompson, University
of British Columbia
“Interdependence is an exceptionally original work of comprehensive theorizing.
Conceptually subtle, empirically rigorous, and compellingly argued, it
addresses some of the most fundamental questions in theoretical biology and
demonstrates their close relation to central problems in our ideas of
knowledge, existence, and reality.”—Barbara Herrnstein Smith, author,
Scandalous Knowledge: Science, Truth and the Human
“Kriti Sharma has written a remarkable book that moves seamlessly from the
empirical world of biology—indeed, the microscales of test tubes and cells and
molecules—to the consideration of the broadest philosophical concepts that
define how we comprehend existence itself. The writing is lively and the
illustrations are drawn from a wide and interdisciplinary range of sources and
experiences, yet the development of the ideas is scholarly, careful, and well
documented. Interdependence: Biology and Beyond will elevate and churn your
thinking. It is Sharma’s first book and the reader feels privileged to be
present at the start of an exciting intellectual journey.”—Peter White,
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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