The structure of biological theories /

Thompson's purpose is to compare the systematic, axiomatic, Euclidian concept of scientific theories (here called the "syntactic view") with the family-of-models, Archimedean concept (the "semantic" view). The author argues the superiority of the latter on the basis of greater accuracy and more extensive application, particularly to the structure of evolutionary theory and its spin-offs. The book is divided into four main parts. After a summary introduction and an examination of the structure of evolutionary theory, the author reviews the syntactic conception of theory and its application to evolution. He repeats this for the semantic view and its workings out in evolution. He ends with chapters on the advantages of the semantic view for sociobiology and evolutionary ethics and epistemology. Since the concept of theory is undergoing considerable revision at this time, Thompson's work is a useful, highly focused contribution. There is an index of about 250 items and a bibliography containing 215 entries. (A fair number of typographical errors can be found but few of these are critical to meaning.) Recommended for libraries stressing philosophy of science at the senior undergraduate/graduate level. R. J. Doyle University of Windsor