This book explores the essence of immunity. After an initial review of hypotheses, models, and theories proposed to explain immune phenomena in humans and mice, it summarizes the results from synchronic organism-level analyses and diachronic analyses tracing phylogeny. These results suggest that immunity is coextensive with life and is equipped with functions similar to the nervous system. Philosophical reflection with reference to Spinoza and Canguilhem suggests immunity is part of the essence of life – and the essence of immunity embraces elements with normativity. Approaching the essence of any phenomenon in this way is called “metaphysicalization of science.” This book demonstrates the potential of this approach and contributes to a richer understanding of nature.
Key Features
· Reviews the history of immunological theories
· Discusses and integrates science and philosophy
· Provides a biological framework for cognition and self vs. non-self
· Inspired by Auguste Comte’s “The Law of Three Stages”
Introduction. Chapter 1. What Has Immunology Tried to Explain?. Chapter 2. Autoimmunity, Symbiosis, and Organism. Chapter 3. The Immune System at the Organism Level. Chapter 4. The Immune System Omnipresent in the Biological World. Chapter 5. Metaphysics of Immunity. Chapter 6. Toward a New Philosophy of Life. Epilogue.
Biography
Hidetaka Yakura, M.D., Ph.D. (Pathology), Ph.D. (Epistemology, History of Science and Technology), is the director of the Institute for Science and Human Existence. He started his career with seven years of research in immunology at the Dana–Farber Cancer Institute in Boston and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. After serving as the director of the Department of Immunology and Signal Transduction at the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute for Medical Research, he embarked on philosophical investigations of immunity in Paris in 2007, receiving his Ph.D. from Sorbonne University Paris Cité (presently, Paris Cité University) in 2016. He is currently exploring new perspectives on nature, life, and human existence.
