Life and Process: Towards a New Biophilosophy

Published by De Gruyter 2014

Life and Process

Towards a New Biophilosophy

Edited by: Spyridon A. Koutroufinis

Volume 26 in the series Process Thought

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110352597

Overview
Contents

About this book

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.

Author / Editor information

Spyridon Athanasios Koutroufinis, Technical University of Berlin, Germany/Rafina, Greece.

Supplementary Materials

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Table of Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Preface Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	ix
Acknowledgments I Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xi
List of Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xiii
Introduction: The Need for a New Biophilosophy Spyridon A. Koutroufinis Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Teleology and the Life Sciences: Between Limit Concept and Ontological Necessity Barbara Muraca Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	37
The Experience of Environmental Phosphate Fluctuations by Cyanobacteria: an Essay on the Teleological Feature of Physiological Adaptation Gernot Falkner and Renate Falkner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	73
Beyond Systems Theoretical Explanations of an Organism’s Becoming: A Process Philosophical Approach Spyridon A. Koutroufinis Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	99
Process and Action: Whitehead’s Ontological Units and Perceptuomotor Control Units Jonathan T. Delafield-Butt Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	133
Life in the Interstices: Systems Biology and Process Thought Joseph E. Earley Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	157
Quantum Biology: A Live Option Pete A.Y. Gunter Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	171
The Effect of Mind upon Brain Henry P. Stapp Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	183
A Fourth Variable in Evolution John B. Cobb Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	215
Evolution without Tears: A Third Way beyond Neo-Darwinism and Intelligent Design David R. Griffin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	255
Covariance and Evolution Robert J. Valenza Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	275
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	307

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter
Audience: Philosophen und Naturwissenschaftler, Bibliotheken, Institute
Pages
- Front matter: 14
- Main content: 322
Keywords: Biophilosophy; Organism; A.N. Whitehead

eBook

Published: May 21, 2014
ISBN: 9783110352597

Hardcover

Published: April 28, 2014
ISBN: 9783110343267