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Philosophy of Biology: Outline of a Transcendental Project

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Abstract

This paper analyses the actual meaning of a transcendental philosophy of biology, and does so by exploring and actualising the epistemological and metaphysical value of Kant's viewpoint on living systems. It finds inspiration in the Kantian idea of living systems intrinsically resisting objectification, but critically departs from Kant's philosophical solution in as far as it is based in a subjectivist dogmatism. It attempts to overcome this dogmatism, on the one hand by explicitly taking into account the conditions of possibility at the side of the subject, and on the other hand by embedding both the living and the knowing system into an ontology of complexly organized dynamical systems. This paper fits into the transcendental perspective in acknowledging the need to analyse the conditions of knowability, prior to the contents of what is known. But it also contributes to an expansion and an actualisation of the issue of transcendentality itself by considering the conditions of possibility at the side of the object as intrinsically linked to the conditions of possibility at the side of the subject.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Unit “Evolution and Complexity,” Department of Philosophy, Ghent University, Blandijnberg 2, 9000, Gent

    Gertrudis Van de Vijver, Linda Van Speybroeck, Dani De Waele, Filip Kolen & Helena De Preester

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  1. Gertrudis Van de Vijver
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  2. Linda Van Speybroeck
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  3. Dani De Waele
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  4. Filip Kolen
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Correspondence to Gertrudis Van de Vijver.

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Van de Vijver, G., Van Speybroeck, L., De Waele, D. et al. Philosophy of Biology: Outline of a Transcendental Project. Acta Biotheor 53, 57–75 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10441-005-5350-9

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