In defense of the organism: Thomas Pradeu (Elizabeth Vitanza, trans.): The limits of the self: immunology and biological identity. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012, ix+302 pp, ISBN: 978-0-19-977528-6, $65 HB.

Abstract

pre-printThomas Pradeu's The Limits of the Self provides a precise account of biological identity developed from the central concepts of immunology. Yet the central concepts most relevant to this task (self and nonself ) are themselves deemed inadequate, suffering from ambiguity and imprecision. Pradeu seeks to remedy this by proposing a new guiding theory for immunology, the continuity theory. From this, an account of biological identity is provided in terms of uniqueness and individuality, ultimately leading to a defense of the heterogeneous organism as expressing the highest degree of individuality. Organisms are under attack. Pathogens, environmental stress, and endogenous factors, among many others, threaten the survival of an organism. To persist, organisms must be able to mount an effective response, and a variety of strategies for regulating these stressors have evolved. Collectively, these are the immune system. The organism is also under attack as a scientific concept. Samir Okasha (2011) has argued that organism is an anachronistic hierarchical rank, and that we should abandon this vestige of classification in favor of a rank-free ecological hierarchy. I have argued for a neighboring view (Haber 2013), observing that the term organism, much like species, is used to refer to a disparate group of entities, and that we ought to follow the lead of species eliminativists like Marc Ereshefsky (1992) and Brent Mishler (1999) and ‘get rid of organisms'