This first volume of biophysicist and philosopher Henri Atlan's masterpiece takes up the question of the techniques and sciences linked to the fabrication of living beings while following unexpected paths of religion and philosophy through the Talmud, Spinoza, the Kabbalah, Leibnitz, and more.

Henri Atlan is Professor Emeritus of Biophysics and Director of the Human Biology Research Center at Hadassah University Hospital in Jerusalem and Director of Research at the École des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris. For decades, he also served on the French National Advisory Committee on Ethics in the Health and Life Sciences. Atlan's honorific titles include the French Legion of Honor, the French Order of Arts and Letters, and the French National Order of Merit.