Refiguring Life

Mehr zum Buch

Refiguring Life begins by examining the history of genetics and embryology, highlighting how discipline-based metaphors have shaped scientists' searches for evidence. Keller explores the intersection of biology and physics, particularly regarding life and the law of increasing entropy. In the final section, she discusses how new metaphors from the computer revolution have influenced biological research. These metaphors initially sparked debates among differing visions of the life sciences, eventually being reinterpreted and integrated into established research agendas, often subverting those same agendas in the process. Keller illustrates that metaphors and research tools are not merely byproducts of scientific discovery; they collaboratively delineate the landscape for new metaphors and methodologies. Their dynamic interplay defines the boundaries of possibility in science. Drawing from a wide range of theoretical perspectives, including those of Schrödinger and Jacques Lacan, Keller connects issues in the humanities and social sciences with those in the physical and natural sciences, transcending disciplinary limits. She adeptly navigates topics from genetics to embryology, physics to biology, and cyberscience to molecular biology, demonstrating that scientific inquiry is deeply intertwined with the broader societal context in which it operates.