 Philosophy of biology used not to pay a great deal of attention to microbes (aka microorganisms) and microbiology. This neglect occurred not because of active bias but simply because of habits gained from contingent influences on the development of the field. For example, the scientists most connected with the expansion of philosophy of biology in the 1960s and 1970s happened to be zoologists and evolutionists (e.g., Ernst Mayr and Richard Lewontin). Their interests and expertise naturally and productively shaped the way in which philosophy of biology made headway throughout the 1980s and 1990s (see the entry on  philosophy of biology).[1] 