Dialectical Thinking and Science: The Case of Richard Lewontin, Dialectical Biologist
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Pierfrancesco Biasetti
Abstract
Richard Lewontin’s dialectical approach to biology emphasizes the relationship between the organism, its development, and the environment, providing an alternative view to the one provided by “mechanistic” and “reductionist” paradigms. This alternative view can be seen as the most lucid attempt made in recent times to apply to a particular science the dialectical tradition flowing from Engels’ Antinti-Dühring and the unfinished Dialectics of Nature. By analysing Lewontin’s critique of mechanistic biology and his constructivism, a general assessment of the pretension of the dialectical approach in science will be attempted
Abstract
Richard Lewontin’s dialectical approach to biology emphasizes the relationship between the organism, its development, and the environment, providing an alternative view to the one provided by “mechanistic” and “reductionist” paradigms. This alternative view can be seen as the most lucid attempt made in recent times to apply to a particular science the dialectical tradition flowing from Engels’ Antinti-Dühring and the unfinished Dialectics of Nature. By analysing Lewontin’s critique of mechanistic biology and his constructivism, a general assessment of the pretension of the dialectical approach in science will be attempted
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter i
- Table of Contents v
- Natural Born Monads 1
- Between Laws and Norms. Genesis of the Concept of Organism in Leibniz and in the Early Modern Western Philosophy 11
- The Ontology of Organismic Agency: A Kantian Approach 33
- Teleology, Backward Causation and Contradiction. Hegel’s Dialectical Account of Organic Nature 65
- Being Rational: Hegel on the Human Way of Being 89
- Hegel and the Question “What Characterizes Human Beings qua Animal Organisms of a Specific Sort?” 111
- Marx’s Philosophy on Natural History 137
- From Monads to Monera 153
- Idealism and Darwin – Rejection, Accommodation, Appropriation: James Hutchison Stirling and David George Ritchie 177
- Biology and the Philosophy of History: Nishida Kitarō and the Philosophy of “Necessity that Includes Freedom” 199
- Tanabe Hajime and the Concept of Species: Approaching Nature as a Missing Shade in the Logic of Species 213
- Teleology, Life, and Cognition: Reconsidering Jonas’ Legacy for a Theory of the Organism 243
- Dialectical Thinking and Science: The Case of Richard Lewontin, Dialectical Biologist 265
- Can Normativity be the Force of Nature that Solves the Problem of Partes Extra Partes? Episode IV – A New Hope – Natural Detachment and the Case of the Hybrid Hominin 293
- Towards a Constructivist Approach to Human Nature 315
- Index of names 333
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter i
- Table of Contents v
- Natural Born Monads 1
- Between Laws and Norms. Genesis of the Concept of Organism in Leibniz and in the Early Modern Western Philosophy 11
- The Ontology of Organismic Agency: A Kantian Approach 33
- Teleology, Backward Causation and Contradiction. Hegel’s Dialectical Account of Organic Nature 65
- Being Rational: Hegel on the Human Way of Being 89
- Hegel and the Question “What Characterizes Human Beings qua Animal Organisms of a Specific Sort?” 111
- Marx’s Philosophy on Natural History 137
- From Monads to Monera 153
- Idealism and Darwin – Rejection, Accommodation, Appropriation: James Hutchison Stirling and David George Ritchie 177
- Biology and the Philosophy of History: Nishida Kitarō and the Philosophy of “Necessity that Includes Freedom” 199
- Tanabe Hajime and the Concept of Species: Approaching Nature as a Missing Shade in the Logic of Species 213
- Teleology, Life, and Cognition: Reconsidering Jonas’ Legacy for a Theory of the Organism 243
- Dialectical Thinking and Science: The Case of Richard Lewontin, Dialectical Biologist 265
- Can Normativity be the Force of Nature that Solves the Problem of Partes Extra Partes? Episode IV – A New Hope – Natural Detachment and the Case of the Hybrid Hominin 293
- Towards a Constructivist Approach to Human Nature 315
- Index of names 333
