**About the Editor**

**Alessandro Minelli** (Full Professor of Zoology at the University of Padova until retirement in 2011) served as Vice-President of the European Society for Evolutionary Biology. For several years, his research focus was biological systematics, but since the mid-1990s, his research interests have turned towards evolutionary developmental biology and the philosophy of biology. He is the author of 'Biological Systematics' (1993), 'The Development of Animal Form' (2003), 'Forms of Becoming' (2009), 'Perspectives in Animal Phylogeny and Evolution' (2009) and 'Plant Evolutionary Developmental Biology' (2018).

## **Preface to "Renegotiating Disciplinary Fields in the Life Sciences"**

Recent and ongoing debates in biology and the philosophy of biology reveal a widespread dissatisfaction with traditional explanatory frameworks. This is, for instance, the case of Neo-Darwinism, as it has been frequently advocated that evolutionary biology should replace the traditional gene-centered perspective with an organism-centered extended evolutionary synthesis, to account, e.g., for inclusive inheritance extending beyond genes and for phenotypic variation resulting from nonrandom mutation or biased by developmental processes. There are also problems with the current definitions or circumscriptions, often vague or controversial, of key concepts such as gene, species, and homology, and even of whole disciplinary fields within the life sciences, like developmental biology. To some extent, growing awareness of these conceptual issues and the contrasting views defended in their regard can be construed as marks of healthy debates in the field; however, this is also arguably a symptom of the need to revisit traditional, unchallenged partitions between the specialist disciplines within the life sciences. In the diversity of topics addressed and approaches to move beyond the current disciplinary organization, this Special Issue will hopefully stimulate further exploration towards an improved articulation of life sciences at the service of both science and philosophy.

> **Alessandro Minelli** *Editor*

## *Editorial* **Renegotiating Disciplinary Fields in the Life Sciences**
