Canguilhem and Continental Philosophy of Biology (History, Philosophy and Theory of the Life Sciences, 31)

This edited volume presents papers on this alternative philosophy of biology that could be called “continental philosophy of biology,” and the variety of positions and solutions that it has spawned. In doing so, it contributes to debates in the history and philosophy of science and the history of philosophy of science, as well as to the craving for ‘history’ and/or ‘theory’ in the theoretical biological disciplines. In addition, however, it also provides inspiration for a broader image of philosophy of biology, in which these traditional issues may have a place. The volume devotes specific attention to the work of Georges Canguilhem, which is central to this alternative tradition of “continental philosophy of biology”. This is the first collection on Georges Canguilhem and the Continental tradition in philosophy of biology. The book should be of interest to philosophers of biology, continental philosophers, historians of biology and those interested in broader traditions in philosophy of science. Canguilhem and Continental Philosophy of Biology 5 Copyright 6 Contents 7 Introduction 9 1 Introduction 10 References 15 Part I: Biophilosophical Backgrounds: Faultlines and Forerunners 18 Analytic and Continental Approaches to Biology and Philosophy: David Hull and Marjorie Grene on ‘What Philosophy of Biology Is Not’ 19 1 Introduction 20 2 Marjorie Grene and David Hull Contrasted 23 3 Contested Origin Stories About the Philosophy of Biology 27 4 Writing ‘What Philosophy of Biology Is Not’ (WPOBIN) 29 5 Philosophy of Biology Versus Biological Philosophy, or Hull Against Grene 34 6 Conclusion 38 References 40 All Knowledge Is Orientation: Marjorie Grene’s Ecological Epistemology 45 1 Introduction 46 2 Grene’s Intellectual Biography 47 3 History of Philosophy 48 4 Philosophy of Biology 53 5 Epistemology, Metaphysics, and Philosophical Anthropology 59 Bibliography 63 Abbreviations for Works by Grene 63 Works by Grene 63 Works by Others 64 “Dilettantes of Life.” Franco-German Refractions of Anthropogenesis in Twentieth Century Philosophy 67 1 Philosophical Biology Vs. Biological Philosophy 70 2 The Sources. Klaatsch, Alsberg, Bolk 74 3 Philosophical Anthropology between an Anthropology of need and an Anthropology of Desire 77 3.1 Gehlen 77 3.2 Scheler 80 3.3 Plessner 82 4 Fractionaries of an Anthropology of Desire from Lack. The French Constellation, with an Exemplary Focus on Jacques Lacan 84 5 Conclusion 86 References 87 Part II: Canguilhem’s Philosophy of Biology 90 “Unknown Material”? Georges Canguilhem, French Philosophy and Medicine 91 1 Introduction 91 2 Matter/Material, Concrete 93 3 Different Material: Sociology or Psychology 97 4 Medicine 100 References 104 Life, Concept and Purpose: The Organism as a Connection in Kant’s Critical Philosophy and Georges Canguilhem’s Historical Epistemology 106 1 Life, Concept and Organic Knowledge in Kant and Canguilhem 107 2 Organism and Purpose from Kant’s Pre-Critical Writings to the Opus Postumum 111 2.1 The Organism in the Pre-Critical Writings and in the CPR 111 2.2 The Organism in the CJ 113 2.3 The Organism in the OP 117 3 Biological Individuality and Organism in Georges Canguilhem’s Philosophy 119 4 Conclusion 122 References 122 Canguilhem’s Divided Subject: A Kantian Perspective on the Intertwinement of Logic and Life 125 1 Introduction 126 2 The Concept and Life: From Ontology to Epistemology, via Logic 128 3 Aristotle’s Paradigm: The Primacy of the Individual 129 4 The Life of the Concept: Kant’s Logical Horizon and the Regulativity of the Principle of Purposiveness 132 5 From Kant’s Critique to Hegel’s Aristotelianism 135 6 Is Logic Intrinsic to Life, or Does Life Disconcert Logic? Towards Life as Dissatisfaction 137 7 The Divided Subject’s Broken Judgment 140 8 The Desire to Find the True Is What Invents It. On Logic’s Needs 144 9 Conclusion 146 References 147 Knowledge, Life, and Error. Nietzschean Themes in the Work of Georges Canguilhem 149 References 158 Neither Angel Nor Beast: Life and/Versus Mind in Canguilhem and Merleau-Ponty 160 1 Mind-Life Problem: Between Transcendentalism and Life Philosophy 162 2 Reflexive Scientist: Circularity Between Life and Mind 165 3 Dialectical Ferment: Vital Normativity 168 4 Not an Angel: On Praktognosia 171 5 Nor a Beast: On Symbolic Behaviour 173 6 Living Minds, Minded Lives: The Relation of Foundation 178 References 179 Works by Canguilhem and Merleau-Ponty (Abbreviations): 179 Other sources: 180 Canguilhem and the Promise of the Flesh 181 1 Introduction 182 2 Phenomenology’s Romance of the Flesh 183 3 Canguilhem on Embodied Experience 185 4 Canguilhem and the garde-fou of Scientific Truth 186 5 Conclusion 188 References 189 Part III: Beyond Canguilhem 192 What Is Biological Normativity? 193 1 Introduction 193 1.1 A Physiological Constant Is Not an Invariant 194 1.2 Physiology and Pathology 199 1.3 Propulsive and Repulsive Constants 201 1.4 An Extended Definition of Closure? 202 References 206 Self-Organizing Life: Michel Serres and the Problem of Meaning 207 1 Introduction 208 2 Serres and Canguilhem 208 2.1 Serres as an Isolated Philosopher 210 2.2 Serres and Althusserianism 212 3 Another Biophilosophy Is Possible 214 3.1 The New New Scientific Spirit 214 3.2 Henri Atlan and the Problem of Meaning 218 4 A Biophilosophy Without a Subject 220 4.1 The Scapegoat as Self-Organization 222 4.2 Science as Order Out of Noise 225 5 Conclusion 227 References 228 French Philosophy of Technology and Technoscience: A Study on the Mode of Existence of Bio-objects 231 1 A New Philosophical Object: What Is a Technoscientific Object? 233 2 Philosophy of Technology and Biotechnologies: What Technoscientific Object Is the Bio-object? 236 3 A Simondonian Ontology of Technical Objects: How to Redefine Bio-objects? 241 References 247 A Bergsonian Perspective on Causality and Evolution 248 1 The Bergsonian Criticism of the Hidden Finalism of the Theories of Evolution 249 2 Understanding the élan vital 252 3 Topicality of the élan vital 256 4 The Lessons of the élan vital on the Causality in Evolution 259 References 262