The Paradox of the Organism

The question ‘What is an individual?’–a gene, a cell, an organism, a species–is the most exciting in biology today. I believe that only a combination of the practice and philosophy of biology, as in this book, can answer it.–W. Ford Doolittle, author of Darwinizing GaiaWe like to think of ourselves as unitary beings, but in truth we are made of thirty trillion of our own cells and countless other entities, including bacteria, viruses, and even selfish genetic elements residing in our genomes–each potentially pursuing its own agenda. In this sweeping volume, Arvid Ågren and Manus Patten bring together leading scholars to explore the paradox of internal conflict, and what it means for our identities as multicellular organisms and as humans. This book is the definitive source for current scholarly thinking on the question of how organisms can exist despite the conflicts inherent within us and all forms of life.–Athena Aktipis, author of The Cheating Cell

J. Arvid Ågren is Research Associate at the Lerner Research Institute of the Cleveland Clinic and Affiliated Researcher at the Evolutionary Biology Centre at Uppsala University. He is the author of The Gene’s-Eye View of Evolution.

Manus M. Patten is an evolutionary biologist whose research explores the consequences of conflict, both for organisms and for evolutionary theory. He is Teaching Professor in Biology at Georgetown University.