حیوان به‌عنوان ماشین: جستجویی برای درک چگونگی کار و سازگاری حیوانات

"Through the ages natural historians have puzzled over how animals work, wavering between a vitalist belief in a soul animating bodily functions and a mechanistic outlook in which animal body parts are seen as pieces of organic machinery. Animal as Machine explores the life, work, and ideas of scientists who, branding themselves as physiologists, subscribed to mechanistic concepts to explain how animals acquire and process food, breathe, circulate their blood, and sense their environment. As medical physiology thrived in the nineteenth century, zoologists struggled to forge their own distinctive physiology predicated on understanding animal functions in a context of environmental adaptation and evolutionary forces. Physiological schools with distinct emphases that shaped their outlook sprang up around the world. Dividing their time between fieldwork in marine stations and laboratory experimentation, animal physiologists stood in awe of the diversity and ingenuity of the functional strategies by which animals survived. Animal as Machine tells a remarkable and insightful story of the larger-than-life personalities and gripping historical episodes that marked the emergence and blossoming of animal physiology."-- Provided by publisher

Through the ages natural historians have puzzled over howanimals work, wavering between a vitalist belief in a soulanimating bodily functions and a mechanistic outlook in whichanimal body parts are seen as pieces of organic machinery.Animal as Machine explores the life, work, and ideas ofscientists who, branding themselves as physiologists, subscribed tomechanistic concepts to explain how animals acquire and processfood, breathe, circulate their blood, and sense their environment.As medical physiology thrived in the nineteenth century, zoologistsstruggled to forge their own distinctive physiology predicated onunderstanding animal functions in a context of environmentaladaptation and evolutionary forces. Physiological schools withdistinct emphases that shaped their outlook sprang up around theworld. Dividing their time between fieldwork in marine stations andlaboratory experimentation, animal physiologists stood in awe ofthe diversity and ingenuity of the functional strategies by whichanimals survived. Animal as Machine tells a remarkable andinsightful story of the larger-than-life personalities and grippinghistorical episodes that marked the emergence and blossoming ofanimal physiology.

Recounting the adventures of natural historians and zoologists who disassembled the machinery and adaptability of animal functions. __Animal as Machine__ explores the life, work, and ideas of scientists who subscribed to mechanistic concepts to explain how animals process food, breathe, circulate their blood, and sense their environment. A remarkable story of the larger-than-life personalities and historical episodes that marked the emergence of animal physiology.