What is an Organism? An immunological answer

Thomas Pradeu (1)

1 IHPST - Institut d'Histoire et de Philosophie des Sciences et des Techniques

The question "What is an organism?", formerly considered as essential in biology, has now been increasingly replaced by a larger question, "What is a biological individual?". On the grounds that i) individuation is theory-dependent, and ii) physiology does not offer a theory, biologists and philosophers of biology have claimed that it is the theory of evolution by natural selection which tells us what counts as a biological individual. Here I show that one physiological field, immunology, offers a theory, which makes possible a biological individuation based on physiological grounds. I give a new answer to the question of the individuation of an organism by linking together the evolutionary and the immunological approaches to biological individuation.

Mots clés: Philosophy of immunology; organism; immunology; individuality; levels of selection

Domaines: Histoire, Philosophie et Sociologie des sciences

Thomas Pradeu. What is an Organism? An immunological answer. History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences, 2010, 32 (2-3), pp.247-267. ⟨halshs-00790958⟩