| Introduction: How to write history of biology / 1： |
| Subjectivity and bias |
| Why study the history of biology? |
| The place of biology in the sciences and its conceptual structure / 2： |
| The nature of science |
| Method in science |
| The position of biology within the sciences |
| How and why is biology different? |
| Special characteristics of living organisms |
| Reduction and biology |
| Emergence |
| The conceptual structure of biology |
| A new philosophy of biology |
| The changing intellectual milieu of biology / 3： |
| Antiquity |
| The Christian world picture |
| The Renaissance |
| The discovery of diversity |
| Biology in the Enlightenment |
| The rise of science from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century |
| Divisive developments in the nineteenth century |
| Biology in the twentieth century |
| Major periods in the history of biology |
| Biology and philosophy |
| Biology today |
| Diversity of Life / Part I： |
| Macrotaxonomy, the science of classifying / 4： |
| Aristotle |
| The classification of plants by the ancients and the herbalists |
| Downward classification by logical division |
| Pre-Linnaean zoologists |
| Carl Linnaeus |
| Buffon |
| A new start in animal classification |
| Taxonomic characters |
| Upward classification by empirical grouping |
| Transition period (1758-1859) |
| Hierarchical classifications |
| Grouping according to common ancestry / 5： |
| The decline of macrotaxonomic research |
| Numerical phenetics |
| Cladistics |
| The traditional or evolutionary methodology |
| New taxonomic characters |
| Facilitation of information retrieval |
| The study of diversity |
| Microtaxonomy, the science of species / 6： |
| Early species concepts |
| The essentialist species concept |
| The nominalistic species concept |
| Darwin's species concept |
| The rise of the biological species concept |
| Applying the biological species concept to multidimensional species taxa |
| The significance of species in biology |
| Evolution / Part II： |
| Origins without evolution / 7： |
| The coming of evolutionism |
| The French Enlightenment |
| Evolution before Darwin / 8： |
| Lamarck |
| Cuvier |
| England |
| Lyell and uniformitarianism |
| Germany |
| Charles Darwin / 9： |
| Darwin and evolution |
| Alfred Russel Wallace |
| The publication of the Origin |
| Darwin's evidence for evolution and common descent / 10： |
| Common descent and the natural system |
| Common descent and geographical distribution |
| Morphology as evidence for evolution and common descent |
| Embryology as evidence for evolution and common descent |
| The causation of evolution: natural selection / 11： |
| The major components of the theory of natural selection |
| The origin of the concept of natural selection |
| The impact of the Darwinian revolution |
| The resistance to natural selection |
| Alternate evolutionary theories |
| Diversity and synthesis of evolutionary thought / 12： |
| The growing split among the evolutionists |
| Advances in evolutionary genetics |
| Advances in evolutionary systematics |
| The evolutionary synthesis |
| Post-synthesis developments / 13： |
| Molecular biology |
| Natural selection |
| Unresolved issues in natural selection |
| Modes of speciation |
| Macroevolution |
| The evolution of man |
| Evolution in modern thought |
| Variation and Its Inheritance / Part III： |
| Early theories and breeding experiments / 14： |
| Theories of inheritance among the ancients |
| Mendel's forerunners |
| Germ cells, vehicles of heredity / 15： |
| The Schwann-Schleiden cell theory |
| The meaning of sex and fertilization |
| Chromosomes and their role |
| The nature of inheritance / 16： |
| Darwin and variation |
| August Weismann |
| Hugo de Vries |
| Gregor Mendel |
| The flowering of Mendelian genetics / 17： |
| The rediscoverers of Mendel |
| The classical period of Mendelian genetics |
| The origin of new variation (mutation) |
| The emergence of modern genetics |
| The Sutton-Boveri chromosome theory |
| Sex determination |
| Morgan and the fly room |
| Meiosis |
| Morgan and the chromosome theory |
| Theories of the gene / 18： |
| Competing theories of inheritance |
| The Mendelian explanation of continuous variation |
| The chemical basis of inheritance / 19： |
| The discovery of the double helix |
| Genetics in modern thought |
| Epilogue: Toward a science of science / 20： |
| Scientists and the scientific milieu |
| The maturation of theories and concepts |
| Impediments to the maturation of theories and concepts |
| The sciences and the external milieu |
| Progress in science |
| Notes |
| References |
| Glossary |
| Index |
| Subjectivity and bias Why study the history of biology? |
| The nature of science Method in science |
| Reduction and biology Emergence |
| The changing intellectual milieu of biology Antiquity |
| The discovery of diversity Biology in the Enlightenment |
| Biology and philosophy Biology today |
| Diversity Of Life |
| Macrotaxonomy, the science of classifying Aristotle |
| Pre-Linnaean zoologists Carl Linnaeus Buffon |
| The decline of macrotaxonomic research Numerical phenetics Cladistics |
| The nominalistic species concept Darwin's species concept |
| Evolution before Darwin Lamarck Cuvier England |
| Lyell and uniformitarianism Germany |
| Charles Darwin Darwin and evolution |
| The resistance to natural selection Alternate evolutionary theories |
| Molecular biology Natural selection |
| Modes of speciation Macroevolution |
| The evolution of man Evolution in modern thought |
| Variation and its Inheritance |
| Theories of inheritance among the ancients Mendel's forerunners |
| Introduction: How to write history of biology / 1： |
| Subjectivity and bias |
| Why study the history of biology? |
| The place of biology in the sciences and its conceptual structure / 2： |
| The nature of science |
| Method in science |
