Rupert Sheldrake, Ph.D., is a former research fellow of the Royal Society and former director of studies in biochemistry and cell biology at Clare College, Cambridge University. He is the author of more than 80 technical papers and articles appearing in peer-reviewed scientific journals and 10 books, including The Presence of the Past, The Rebirth of Nature, and Seven Experiments That Could Change the World.

Preface to the 2009 Edition

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1 The Unsolved Problems of Biology
1.1 The background of success
1.2 The problems of morphogenesis
1.3 Behavior
1.4 Evolution
1.5 The origin of life
1.6 Minds
1.7 Parapsychology
1.8 Conclusions

2 Three Theories of Morphogenesis
2.1 Descriptive and experimental research
2.2 Mechanism
2.3 Vitalism
2.4 Organicism

3 The Causes of Form
3.1 The problem of form
3.2 Form and energy
3.3 The structures of crystals
3.4 The structures of proteins
3.5 Formative causation

4 Morphogenetic Fields
4.1 Morphogenetic germs
4.2 Chemical morphogenesis
4.3 Morphogenetic fields as “probability structures”
4.4 Probabilistic processes in biological morphogenesis
4.5 Morphogenetic germs in biological systems

5 The Influence of Past Forms
5.1 The constancy and repetition of forms
5.2 The general possibility of trans-temporal causal connections
5.3 Morphic resonance
5.4 The influence of the past
5.5 Implications of an attenuated morphic resonance
5.6 An experimental test with crystals

6 Formative Causation and Morphogenesis
6.1 Sequential morphogeneses
6.2 The polarity of morphogenetic fields
6.3 The size of morphogenetic fields
6.4 The increasing specificity of morphic resonance during morphogenesis
6.5 The maintenance and stability of forms
6.6 A note on physical “dualism”
6.7 A summary of the hypothesis of formative causation

7 The Inheritance of Form
7.1 Genetics and heredity
7.2 Altered morphogenetic germs
7.3 Altered pathways of morphogenesis
7.4 Dominance
7.5 Family resemblances
7.6 Environmental influences and morphic resonance
7.7 The inheritance of acquired characteristics
7.8 Epigenetic inheritance
7.9 Experiments with phenocopies

8 The Evolution of Biological Forms
8.1 The neo-Darwinian theory of evolution
8.2 Mutations
8.3 The divergence of chreodes
8.4 The suppression of chreodes
8.5 The repetition of chreodes
8.6 The influence of other species
8.7 The origin of new forms

9 Movements and Behavioral Fields
9.1 Introduction
9.2 The movements of plants
9.3 Amoeboid movement
9.4 The repetitive morphogenesis of specialized structures
9.5 Nervous systems
9.6 Morphogenetic fields, motor fields, and behavioral fields
9.7 Behavioral fields and the senses
9.8 Regulation and regeneration
9.9 Morphic fields

10 Instinct and Learning
10.1 The influence of past actions
10.2 Instinct
10.3 Sign stimuli
10.4 Learning
10.5 Innate tendencies to learn

11 The Inheritance and Evolution of Behavior
11.1 The inheritance of behavior
11.2 Morphic resonance and behavior: an experimental test
11.3 The evolution of behavior
11.4 Human behavior

12 Four Possible Conclusions
12.1 The hypothesis of formative causation
12.2 Modified materialism
12.3 The conscious self
12.4 The creative universe
12.5 Transcendent reality

Appendix A: New Tests for Morphic Resonance
A.1 Bose-Einstein condensates
A.2 Melting points
A.3 Crystal transformations
A.4 Adaptations in cell cultures
A.5 Heat tolerance in plants
A.6 The transmission of aversion
A.7 The evolution of animal behavior
A.8 Collective human memory
A.9 Improving human performance
A.10 Resonant computers

Appendix B: Morphic Fields and the Implicate Order--A Dialogue with David Bohm

Notes

Bibliography

Index of Names

Index of Subjects