Life and process : towards a new biophilosophy

Bibliographic Information

Life and process : towards a new biophilosophy

edited by Spyridon A. Koutroufinis

(Process thought, v. 26)

De Gruyter, c2014

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Note

Includes bibliographical references and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

Alfred North Whitehead is arguably the most original 20th-century philosopher of nature and metaphysics. In recent decades a number of physicists have produced ground-breaking new theories in fundamental physics influenced by his process philosophy. In contrast, few biologists are even aware that Whitehead's radical rethinking of the Cartesian assumptions implicit in 19th-century sciences might be relevant to their enterprise. This book seeks to fill this gap by exploring how Whitehead's process ontology might provide a new philosophical foundation for the biosciences of the 21st century. The central premise shared by all of the volume's authors is the idea that all living processes are irreducible processes. Each chapter focuses on assumptions implicit in some of the core concepts of biology - such as organism, evolution, information, and teleology - that play crucial explanatory roles in the biosciences, but as metaphysical concepts fall outside its purview. The authors each identify important shortcomings implicit in contemporary biological paradigms and show how an approach grounded in a process-oriented metaphysics can avoid them.

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Details

  • NCID
    BB1629989X
  • ISBN
    • 9783110343267
  • LCCN
    2014009176
  • Country Code
    gw
  • Title Language Code
    eng
  • Text Language Code
    eng
  • Place of Publication
    Berlin
  • Pages/Volumes
    xiv, 322 p.
  • Size
    24 cm
  • Classification
  • Subject Headings
  • Parent Bibliography ID
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