Biophilosophy - Revision history

59.27.17.166 at 00:33, 30 May 2007

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59.27.17.166 at 00:32, 30 May 2007

2007-05-30T00:32:48Z

59.27.17.166 at 00:27, 30 May 2007

2007-05-30T00:27:46Z

59.27.17.166 at 00:27, 30 May 2007

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59.27.17.166 at 00:26, 30 May 2007

2007-05-30T00:26:17Z

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[http://biophilosophy.org Biophilosophy.org]<br />

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 <p><strong>Biophilosophy</strong> is a subfield of philosophy of science, which deals with epistemological, metaphysical, and ethical issues in the biological and biomedical sciences.&nbsp;<br />
 <br />
-Philosophers of science and philosophers generally have long been interested in biology (e.g., Aristotle, Descartes, and even Kant). Philsophy originally emerged as biophilosophy in ancient times. Pythagoras was perhaps the oldest known western biophilosopher.&nbsp;<br />
+Philosophers of science and philosophers generally have long been interested in biology (e.g., Aristotle, Descartes, and even Kant). Philsophy originally emerged as biophilosophy in ancient times. [[Pythagoras]] was perhaps the oldest known western biophilosopher.&nbsp;<br />
 <br />
 Philosophers of science then began paying increasing attention to developments in biology, from the rise of Neodarwinism in the 1930s and 1940s to the modelling of the DNA in the early 1950's to more recent advances in genetic engineering. Other key ideas such as the reduction of all life processes to biochemical reactions as well as the incorporation of psychology into a broader neuroscience are also addressed.</p>
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      <li>Richard Lewontin </li>
      <li>Ernst Mayr </li>
-     <li>Stephen Jay Gould</li>
+     <li>Stephen Jay Gould </li>
-     <li>Jong Bhak&nbsp;</li>
+     <li>Jong Bhak&nbsp; </li>
 </ul>
 <p><a id="Reference_Materials" name="Reference_Materials"></a></p>

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-<p><strong>Philosophy of biology</strong> (also called, rarely, <strong>biophilosophy</strong>) is a subfield of philosophy of science, which deals with epistemological, metaphysical, and ethical issues in the biological and biomedical sciences. Although philosophers of science and philosophers generally have long been interested in biology (e.g., Aristotle, Descartes, and even Kant), philosophy of biology only emerged as an independent field of philosophy in the 1960s and 1970s. Philosophers of science then began paying increasing attention to developments in biology, from the rise of Neodarwinism in the 1930s and 1940s to the discovery of the structure of Deoxyribonucleic acid in 1953 to more recent advances in genetic engineering. Other key ideas such as the reduction of all life processes to biochemical reactions as well as the incorporation of psychology into a broader neuroscience are also addressed.</p>
+<p><strong>Biophilosophy</strong> is a subfield of philosophy of science, which deals with epistemological, metaphysical, and ethical issues in the biological and biomedical sciences.&nbsp;<br />
+<br />
 <p>&nbsp;</p>
 <h2><span class="mw-headline">Overview</span></h2>
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 <p>Some philosophers of biology have attempted to explain the rise and fall of reductionism, vitalism, and holism throughout the history of biology. For example, these philosophers claim that the ideas of Charles Darwin ended the last remainders of teleological views from biology. Debates in these areas of philosophy of biology turn on how one views reductionism.</p>
 <p>&nbsp;</p>
-<h2><span class="mw-headline">An autonomous philosophy of biology</span></h2>
+<h2><span class="mw-headline">An autonomous Biophilosophy</span></h2>
 <p>All processes in organisms obey physical laws, the difference from inanimate processes lying in their organisation and their being subject to control by coded information. This has led some biologists and philosophers (for example, Ernst Mayr and David Hull) to return to the strictly philosophical reflections of Charles Darwin to resolve some of the problems which confronted them when they tried to employ a philosophy of science derived from classical physics. This latter, positivist approach emphasised a strict determinism (as opposed to high probability) and to the discovery of universally applicable laws, testable in the course of experiment. It was difficult for biology, beyond a basic microbiological level, to live up to these strictures - Karl Popper for example said in 1974 that &quot;<em>Darwinism is not a testable scientific theory, but a metaphysical research programme</em>.&quot; Standard philosophy of science seemed to leave out a lot of what characterised living organisms - namely, a historical component in the form of an inherited genotype.</p>
 <p>Biologists with philosophic interests responded, emphasising the dual nature of the living organism. On the one hand there was the genetic programme (represented in nucleic acids) - the <em>genotype</em>. On the other there was its extended body or <em>soma</em> - the <em>phenotype</em>. In accommodating the more probabilistic and non-universal nature of biological generalisations, it was a help that standard philosophy of science was in the process of accommodating similar aspects of 20th century physics.</p>
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 <p>Just as biology has developed as an autonomous discipline in full conversation with the other sciences, there is a great deal of work now being carried on by biologists and philosophers to develop a dedicated philosophy of biological science which, while in full conversation with all other philosophic disciplines, attempts to give answers to the real questions raised by scientific investigations in biology.</p>
 <p>&nbsp;</p>
-<h2><span class="mw-headline">Other perspectives on the Philosophy of Biology</span></h2>
+<h2><span class="mw-headline">Other perspectives on the Biophilosophy</span></h2>
 <p>While the overwhelming majority of English-speaking scholars operating under the banner of &quot;<em>philosophy of biology</em>&quot; work within the Anglo-American tradition of Analytical Philosophy, there is a stream of philosophic work in Continental philosophy which seeks to deal with issues deriving from biological science. The communication difficulties involved between these two traditions are well known, not helped by differences in language. Gerhard Vollmer is often thought of as a bridge but, despite his education and residence in Germany, he largely works in the Anglo-American tradition, particularly Pragmatism, and is famous for his development of Lorenz's and Quine's idea of Evolutionary Epistemology. On the other hand, one Harvard University scholar who has attempted to give a more Continental account of the philosophy of biology is Hans Jonas. His &quot;<em>The Phenomenon of Life</em>&quot; (New York, 1966) sets out boldly to offer an &quot;<em>existential interpretation of biological facts</em>&quot;, starting with the organism's response to stimulus and ending with man confronting the Universe, and drawing upon a detailed reading of phenomenology. This is unlikely to have much influence on mainstream philosophy of biology, but indicates, as does Vollmer's work, the current powerful influence of biological thought on philosophy. A more engaging account is given by the Chicago philosopher Marjorie Grene.</p>
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      <li>Richard Lewontin </li>
      <li>Ernst Mayr </li>
-     <li>Stephen Jay Gould </li>
+     <li>Stephen Jay Gould</li>
 </ul>
 <p><a id="Reference_Materials" name="Reference_Materials"></a></p>

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 <p><strong>Philosophy of biology</strong> (also called, rarely, <strong>biophilosophy</strong>) is a subfield of philosophy of science, which deals with epistemological, metaphysical, and ethical issues in the biological and biomedical sciences. Although philosophers of science and philosophers generally have long been interested in biology (e.g., Aristotle, Descartes, and even Kant), philosophy of biology only emerged as an independent field of philosophy in the 1960s and 1970s. Philosophers of science then began paying increasing attention to developments in biology, from the rise of Neodarwinism in the 1930s and 1940s to the discovery of the structure of Deoxyribonucleic acid in 1953 to more recent advances in genetic engineering. Other key ideas such as the reduction of all life processes to biochemical reactions as well as the incorporation of psychology into a broader neuroscience are also addressed.</p>
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 <p>&nbsp;</p>
 <h2><span class="mw-headline">Overview</span></h2>