Phillip Thurtle. The Emergence of Genetic Rationality: Space, Time, & Information in American Biological Science, 1870-1920

Abstract

The primary goal of Philip Thurtle's The Emergence of Genetic Rationality is ostensibly to address the emergence of a novel set of biological views and practices in early 20th century America which Thurtle dubs “genetic rationality.” These include active experimentation, changing notions of space and time, and the conceptual reduction of organisms to bundles of geographically-independent traits.