The Theory of the Cell State and the Question of Cell Autonomy in Nineteenth and Early Twentieth-Century Biology
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4516264 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Andrew Reynolds (0000-0002-3529-8682, Cape Breton University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2007 |
| Volume | 20 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 71-95 |
| Publication date | 2007-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Science in Context (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0269-8897 • E-ISSN: 1474-0664 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0269889706001141 |
| PMID | 17575863 |
| OpenAlex | W2152378260 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 10 |
| References cited | 5 |
Argument A central thesis of the cell theory of biological organization is that plant and animal cells are, to some degree, autonomous vital units. Just how much autonomy cells possess was a matter of serious debate in the decades surrounding the turn of the twentieth century. The idea of cell autonomy was most strikingly expressed in the "theory of the cell state," an idea based upon the metaphorical conception of higher plants and animals as social colonies of cells or elementary organisms, commonly associated with Rudolf Virchow and Ernst Haeckel. This paper explores the question of cell autonomy as it was debated within late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century embryology, cytology, and physiology. While greater evidence for cell autonomy emerged from tissue culture experiments, there arose, almost simultaneously, a tendency within physiology and biochemical studies to conceive of the cell metaphorically as a chemical factory and as a subordinate part of a larger organismal whole. I argue that while these metaphors suggested conflicting views of cell autonomy, they were highly effective devices for explaining and investigating within their respective fields: the autonomous cell-organism in embryology and morphology, the subordinate cell-factory in physiology and biochemistry
Autonomy · Biology · Epistemology · Organism · Political science · Law · Philosophy · Philosophy and History of Science · Embryology · Genetics · Physiology
Ambiguous cells
Biological atomism and cell theory
The redoubtable cell
On what condition is the equation organism–society valid?’ Cell theory and organicist sociology in the works of Alfred Espinas (1870s–80s)
The Darwinian muddle on the division of labour
Domains and Major Transitions of Social Evolution
The cell as nexus
Of atoms, bricks and cells
Self, Brain, Microbe, and the Vanishing Commissar
Ernst Haeckel and the Theory of the Cell State
| Unique citing works | 10 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,56 |
| Citation span | 2008 - 2026 (19) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 9 |