Aristotle's Philosophy of Biology: Studies in the Origins of Life ScienceCambridge University Press, 2001 - 321 pages (Publisher-supplied data) In addition to being one of the world's most influential philosophers, Aristotle can also be credited with the creation of both the science of biology and the philosophy of biology. He was the first thinker to treat the investigations of the living world as a distinct inquiry with its own special concepts and principles. This book focuses on a seminal event in the history of biology - Aristotle's delineation of a special branch of theoretical knowledge devoted to the systematic investigation of animals. Aristotle approached the creation of zoology with the tools of subtle and systematic philosophies of nature and of science that were then carefully tailored to the investigation of animals. The papers collected in this volume, written by a pre-eminent figure in the field of Aristotle's philosophy and biology, examine Aristotle's approach to biological inquiry and explanation, his concepts of matter, form and kind, and his teleology. |
Contents
Inquiry and Explanation | 1 |
Divide and Explain The Posterior Analytics in Practice | 7 |
Between Data and Demonstration The Analytics and the Historia Animalium | 39 |
Aristotelian Problems | 72 |
Putting Philosophy of Science to the Test The Case of Aristotles Biology | 98 |
The Disappearance of Aristotles Biology A Hellenistic Mystery | 110 |
Matter Form and Kind | 127 |
Are Aristotelian Species Eternal? | 131 |
Nature Does Nothing in Vain | 205 |
Teleological Explanation | 225 |
Teleology Chance and Aristotles Theory of Spontaneous Generation | 229 |
Aristotle on Chance | 250 |
Theophrastus on the Limits of Teleology | 259 |
Platos Unnatural Teleology | 280 |
Works Cited | 303 |
| 313 | |
Kinds Forms of Kinds and the More and the Less in Aristotles Biology | 160 |
Material and Formal Natures in Aristotles De Partibus Animalium | 182 |
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Bibliographic information
| Title | Aristotle's Philosophy of Biology: Studies in the Origins of Life Science Aristotle's Philosophy of Biology: Studies in the Origins of Life Science, James G. Lennox Cambridge Studies in Philosophy and Biology |
| Author | James G. Lennox |
| Edition | illustrated |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press, 2001 |
| ISBN | 0521659760, 9780521659765 |
| Length | 321 pages |
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