Vecchi, Davide2026-02-232026-02-232012-04-27Vecchi, D. 2013. The Trouble with Natural Genetic Engineering. Biological Theory 7(1):80-88.1555-5542https://doi.org/10.1007/s13752-012-0024-8https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14468/31907The registered version of this article, first published in Biological Theory, is available online at the publisher's website: Springer, https://doi.org/10.1007/s13752-012-0024-8La versión registrada de este artículo, publicado por primera vez en Biological Theory, está disponible en línea en el sitio web del editor: Springer, https://doi.org/10.1007/s13752-012-0024-8In Evolution: A View from the twenty-first Century, Jim Shapiro (JS henceforth) argues in uncompromising fashion that neo-Darwinism is a theory in crisis in urgent need of replacement. He also believes that biology as a whole is experiencing a process of profound conceptual transformation. In this review I evaluate JS’s two main arguments. The first is directed against the dominant evolutionary position, viz., neo-Darwinism; the second against the dominant philosophy of evolutionary and molecular biology (what JS calls the ‘‘mechanistic view of living organisms’’). JS believes that an ‘‘informatic’’ (informational) view of organisms based on the concept of natural genetic engineering will revolutionize biology. His ambition is to show that knowledge about the genomic capabilities of cells must be incorporated in the new emerging biology, and that such incorporation will not only reshape our understanding of the evolutionary process, but also promote the emergence of a new philosophy of life. I argue that while the first argument is persuasive, the second is much more problematic.eninfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess11 Lógica7205 Filosofía de la CienciaartículoLateral Gene TransferWhole Genome DuplicationSlot MachineCluster Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic RepeatDownward Causation1555-5550