Philosophy of Biology before Biology
Edited by Cécilia Bognon-Küss (Université Paris 7 Diderot), and Charles T. Wolfe (University of Gent).
Philosophy of Biology before Biology examines biological and protobiological writings from mid-eighteenth century to the early nineteenth century (from Buffon to Cuvier; Kant to Oken and Kielmeyer) with two major sets of questions in mind:
- What were the distinctive conceptual features of the move toward biology as a science?
- What were the relations and differences between the "philosophical" focus on the nature of living entities, and the "scientific" focus?
Table of Contents
Introduction
1. Cécilia Bognon-Küss & Charles T. Wolfe. The idea of "philosophy of biology before biology": a methodological provocation
Part I. FORM AND DEVELOPMENT
2. Stéphane Schmitt. Buffon’s theories of generation and the changing dialectics of molds and molecules
3. Phillip Sloan. Metaphysics and "Vital" Materialism: The Gabrielle Du Châtelet Circle and French Vitalism
4. John Zammito. The Philosophical Reception of C. F. Wolff’s Epigenesis in Germany, 1770-1790: Herder, Tetens and Kant
Part II. ORGANISM & ORGANIZATION
5. François Duchesneau. Senebier and the Advent of General Physiology
6. Tobias Cheung. Organization and Process. Living Systems Between Inner and Outer Worlds: Cuvier, Hufeland, Cabanis.
Part III. SYSTEMS
7. Georg Toepfer. Philosophy of Ecology Long Before Ecology: Kant’s Idea of an Organized System of Organized Beings
8. Ina Goy. "All is leaf". Goethe's plant philosophy and poetry
9. Snait Gissis. ‘Biologie’: Lamarck’s endeavor of a science of living entities
POSTSCRIPTS
1. Lynn Nyhart. A Historical Proposal Around Prepositions
2. Philippe Huneman. Philosophy after Philosophy of Biology before Biology
Cécilia Bognon-Küss and Charles T. Wolfe. Conclusion
February 2019: 234x156: 220pp
Hb: 978-1-138-65287-3
eBook: 978-1-315-62395-5