The Nature of Life
Assigned by 1 of the 9 reading lists
A short book of lectures by a British embryologist and geneticist on what biology had learned by 1960 and what it still could not explain. Waddington sets out the new molecular account of the gene and of heredity, then argues that it is not enough on its own: what needs explaining is development, the way a fertilised egg builds an organism, and the way an organism as a whole meets its environment. He introduces his own ideas of the epigenetic landscape and canalisation, discusses evolution as a system with several feedback loops rather than one, and closes on mind, human society and the place of values in a scientific picture of life.
We recommendThe Nature of LifeAtheneumThe short American edition, which is the text reprinted in the Great Books set.
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- Written
- 1961
- Language
- English
- Length
- Short · 120 ppunder 120 pages
- Difficulty
- Demanding3 of 5 for a first-year reader
Why it's on the list
Arguing in 1961, at the height of the excitement over DNA, that the molecular account of the gene was not enough on its own, and that what needed explaining was how a fertilised egg builds an organism, kept development on the agenda of a biology that was about to forget it for a generation. Introducing the epigenetic landscape, a surface of valleys down which a developing cell rolls toward one fate or another, gave biology an image that it still uses for the way genes and environment together channel a living thing into its form. Presenting evolution as a system with several feedback loops rather than one, in which the organism's own behaviour and the canalisation of its development shape what selection can act on, anticipated arguments that would not be taken up in earnest until the extended synthesis of the twenty-first century. Closing on mind, human society and the place of values in a scientific picture of life carried the biologist's authority into questions most of his colleagues had ruled out of bounds.
Key themes
- Science and method
- Arguing at the height of the excitement over DNA that the molecular account of the gene was not enough kept development on the agenda of a biology about to forget it.
- Nature and the cosmos
- The epigenetic landscape, a surface of valleys down which a developing cell rolls toward one fate or another, is an image biology still uses.
- History and progress
- Presenting evolution as a system with several feedback loops, in which the organism's behaviour shapes what selection can act on, anticipated the extended synthesis of the twenty-first century.
- Knowledge and truth
- Closing on mind, society and the place of values in a scientific picture of life carried the biologist's authority into questions most of his colleagues had ruled out.
Which edition to read
Our pick
The Nature of Life
Atheneum
The short American edition, which is the text reprinted in the Great Books set.
Amazon: the Atheneum edition, opens in a new tabBookshop.org: the Atheneum edition, opens in a new tab
Overview
About one hundred and twenty pages, a short book of lectures published in 1961 by a British embryologist and geneticist on what biology had learned by 1960 and what it still could not explain. Waddington sets out the new molecular account of the gene and of heredity, then argues that it is not enough on its own: what needs explaining is development, the way a fertilised egg builds an organism, and the way an organism as a whole meets its environment.
He introduces his own ideas of the epigenetic landscape and canalisation, discusses evolution as a system with several feedback loops rather than one, and closes on mind, human society and the place of values in a scientific picture of life.
What happens
What biology has learned. Waddington surveys the state of biology after the discovery of the structure of DNA, setting out how genes are copied and how they direct the making of proteins, and grants that the chemistry of heredity has been largely solved.
Why the gene is not enough. He argues that knowing what genes are does not explain how a single fertilised egg becomes an animal with eyes, limbs and a nervous system, and that this problem of development is the one biology must now face.
The epigenetic landscape. Waddington offers his image of a ball rolling down a surface of branching valleys, each valley a path of development toward a particular tissue or organ, with the genes underneath pulling the surface into shape.
Canalisation and assimilation. Development tends to reach its normal end despite disturbance, a property he calls canalisation, and a response to the environment can, over generations, be taken over by the genes, which he calls genetic assimilation.
Evolution as a system. Rather than a single loop of variation and selection, Waddington describes evolution as several interlocking systems, in which the organism’s choice of where to live and the canalisation of its development both shape what selection can act on.
Mind and values. He closes by asking how a scientific picture of life can accommodate mind, and argues that human beings, who transmit information by teaching as well as by genes, have a mode of evolution of their own, in which values are not an intrusion but a biological fact.
How to read it
Read the book’s date, 1961, as the key to its argument, delivered at the height of the excitement over DNA by a biologist insisting that the molecule was the beginning of the explanation and not its end.
Pay close attention to the epigenetic landscape, the ball rolling down branching valleys, and to why biology still finds it useful for the way genes and environment together channel a living thing into its form.
Notice the account of evolution as a system with several feedback loops, and trace how it anticipated arguments that would not be taken up in earnest for another forty years.
Consider the closing chapters on mind and values, and weigh whether the biologist has earned the right to speak there.
Read this book alongside Schrödinger’s What Is Life to compare a physicist’s guess in 1944 at what the gene must be with an embryologist’s argument in 1961 about what knowing it does not explain.
Questions it raises
- Was Waddington right that the molecular account of the gene was not enough, and has the biology of the decades since vindicated or refuted him?
- Is the epigenetic landscape an explanation or a picture, and what would it take to turn the image into a theory?
- Does genetic assimilation, the taking over of an acquired response by the genes, reintroduce something Lamarckian into Darwinism, or is it simply selection seen more carefully?
- What does it mean to say evolution has several feedback loops, and does the organism’s choice of environment really shape what selection can do?
- Can a scientific picture of life accommodate values without ceasing to be scientific, and does Waddington’s closing argument succeed?
- Why did the questions this book raised go quiet for a generation, and why have they returned?
Highlights
Waddington sets out the new molecular account of the gene and of heredity, then argues that it is not enough on its own: what needs explaining is development, the way a fertilised egg builds an organism.
Paraphrase of the book's central claim, that the gene is the beginning of the explanation of life and not its end.
He introduces the epigenetic landscape, a surface of branching valleys down which the developing cell rolls, and canalisation, the tendency of development to reach its normal end despite disturbance.
Paraphrase of the book's two most lasting ideas.
Evolution is a system with several feedback loops rather than one, in which the organism's own choice of environment and the canalisation of its development shape what natural selection can act upon.
Paraphrase of the book's account of evolution as a cybernetic system.
