Andrew S. Reynolds
BA (New Brunswick), MA, PhD (Western Ontario),
SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow
(Harvard, 1998-99)
Associate Professor
Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies
Cape Breton University
Office Hours: M,W 10-11;
T,TH 10-11:30 CC-219
email: andrew_reynolds (at) cbu.ca |
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I am on Sabbatical from July
1-Dec. 31 2011
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In the Winter term of 2012 I will be teaching:
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My current research deals with the history and philosophy of cell biology, protistology
(the study of single-cell organisms) and evolution. The broader philosophical context of this
research is the use of metaphor in science, and to that end I have been looking
at the cell concept as a particular instance of scientific metaphor.
I am presently very interested in the use of electronics metaphors in cell
communication research (e.g. 'signal transduction', cell 'circuits'), and in
sociological metaphors in cell and molecular biology (e.g. 'cell sociology' in
developmental biology). Cell 'suicide' as a genetic program permitting 'social
control' by the organism as a whole over its component cell-units ties the
electronic and social metaphors together nicely.
Recent publications:
- "The Redoubtable Cell",
Studies in History and Philosophy of the Biological and Biomedical Sciences,
Sept. 2010, 41 (3 = Part special issue "The Cell as Nexus: Connections
between the history, philosophy and science of cell biology), 194-201.
- with Norbert Huelsmann, "Ernst Haeckel's Discovery of
Magosphaera planula: a vestige of metazoan origins?". History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences,
30 3-3 (2008): 339-386.
- "Haeckel and the Theory of the Cell-State: Remarks on the History of
a Bio-Political Metaphor". History
of Science, Summer 2008 xlvi: 123-52.
- "Amoebae as exemplary cells: the protean nature of an elementary
organism". Journal of the History
of Biology, Summer 2008, 41, 2: 307-337.
- "The cell's journey: from metaphorical to literal factory." Endeavour: A quarterly magazine reviewing the history and
philosophy of science in the service of mankind, Summer 2007, 31(2):
65-70.
- "The Theory of the Cell State and the Question of Cell Autonomy in
Nineteenth and Early-Twentieth Century Biology." Science
in Context, March 2007, 20(1): 71-95, .
- "Messy Morphogeny and the Allure of Elegant Mathematics", review essay of John
T. Bonner, First Signals: The Origin of Multicellular Development, (Princeton:
2000), Biology and Philosophy, special issue on Evolutionary-Developmental
Biology, 18: 371-379, 2003.
Curriculum Vitae
(pdf)
Peirce's Scientific
Metaphysics: The Philosophy of Chance, Law and Evolution,
(Nashville:
Vanderbilt University Press, 2002).
last updated:
November 21,
2011