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