On the Riddle of Life: A Historico-Logical Study of Vitalism

This book presents a historico-logical study of vitalism. It begins by uncovering previously unknown doctrines of vitalism from the history of science—encompassing biological, physical, and social sciences—and then subjects these doctrines to a thorough logical analysis. Through this process, the book offers a unified conceptual framework to understand the major doctrines of vitalism in the history of science, ultimately relating vitalism to the question of life. Following the classical methodological approach endorsed by Immanuel Kant, nineteenth-century philosopher-scientists like Ernst Mach, and early-twentieth-century logical analysts, including logical empiricists, British analysts, pragmatists, Husserlian phenomenologists, and neo-Kantians, this work provides unconventional and valuable perspectives on vitalism and the riddle of life, appealing to a broad audience, including scientists, historians, and philosophers of science, particularly those from biological backgrounds. Preface Competing Interests Acknowledgments Contents About the Author Chapter 1: Introduction: Vitalism and the Idea of a Historico-logical Study 1.1 Questions About Vitalism 1.1.1 Current Scholarship on Vitalism 1.1.2 The Historical Question, the Logical Question, and the Riddle of Life 1.2 Methodological Considerations: The Idea of a Historico-logical Study 1.2.1 Philosopher-Scientists in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries 1.2.2 Five Schools of Philosophy in the Early Twentieth Century 1.2.2.1 Logical Empiricism 1.2.2.2 British Analysis 1.2.2.3 Pragmatism 1.2.2.4 Husserlian Phenomenology 1.2.2.5 Neo-Kantianism 1.2.3 Back to Kant 1.2.4 Historical Synthesis: Transforming Philosophy After Kant 1.2.5 Logical Synthesis I: The General Logic of Science 1.2.6 Logical Synthesis II: Between Naturalism and Transcendentalism 1.2.7 Logical Synthesis III: Logical Analysis Historicized 1.2.8 Three Philosophical Problems 1.2.9 Proper Conceptual Treatment 1.2.10 Final Words: On the Relationship Between Science and Philosophy Today 1.3 The Outline of This Book References Chapter 2: Reconsider Hans Driesch’s Vitalism: New Perspectives 2.1 Hans Driesch: Biographical Information 2.2 Driesch’s Kantian Philosophy of Nature 2.3 Driesch on Entelechy and Evolution 2.4 Entelechy and Psychoid 2.5 Entelechy and Energy 2.5.1 Driesch on Energetics 2.5.2 Entelechies Observed the Principle of Energy Conservation 2.5.3 Entelechies Were Not Energies 2.5.4 Entelechies Acted Upon Inorganic Nature by Suspending Possible Becoming 2.6 Driesch’s Entelechy and Maxwell’s Demon 2.7 Entelechy and Enzyme 2.8 Concluding Remarks References Chapter 3: Vitalism and Evolution 3.1 A Review of Historical Literature 3.2 Vital Evolutionism 3.3 Creative Evolution and Emergent Evolution 3.4 Critical Notes on Darwinism 3.5 Concluding Remarks References Chapter 4: Vitalism and Mind 4.1 From Antiquity to the Middle Ages: The Aristotelian Framework 4.2 Early Modern Natural Philosophy 4.3 Modern Biological and Social Sciences 4.4 Philosophies of Human History: The Super Mind and Its Discontents 4.5 Concluding Remarks References Chapter 5: Vitalism, Heat, Gravity, Electricity, Magnetism, and Motion 5.1 Vitalism and Heat 5.2 Vitalism and Gravity 5.3 Vitalism, Electricity, and Magnetism 5.4 Vitalism and Motion 5.5 Vitalism and Philosophy of Nature 5.6 Concluding Remarks References Chapter 6: Vitalism and Chemistry 6.1 A Case Study: Vitalism, Fermentation, and Enzyme 6.2 Vitalism and Chemistry: Before the Modern Era 6.3 Vitalism and Chemistry: The Modern Era 6.4 Concluding Remarks References Chapter 7: Vitalism and Energy Physics 7.1 The Development of Energy Physics 7.1.1 Discovery: 1820–1850 7.1.2 Consolidation: 1850–1870 7.1.3 The Phase of Energetics: 1870–1900 7.2 Challenging Vitalism with the Principle of Energy Conservation 7.3 The First Vitalistic Response: Vital Energy 7.4 The Second Vitalistic Response: Directive Agency (From Heat to Motion) 7.5 William Benjamin Carpenter as a Pioneer 7.6 Digression: The Curious Case of Mental Energy 7.7 Concluding Remarks References Chapter 8: Vitalism, Thermodynamics, and Statistical Mechanics 8.1 Maxwell’s Demon in Late-Nineteenth-Century Vitalistic Speculations 8.2 The Early-Twentieth-Century Consolidation of Statistical Mechanics 8.3 Statistical Mechanics: Vitalism and Maxwell’s Demon 8.4 Concluding Remarks References Chapter 9: Vitalism and Quantum Mechanics 9.1 Erwin Schrödinger: New Laws for Life from Quantum Mechanics 9.2 Pascual Jordan: Supposed Indeterminism from Quantum Mechanics to Biology 9.3 Ralph Lillie: Between Indeterminism and Determinism 9.4 Niels Bohr: A Curious Case 9.5 Concluding Remarks References Chapter 10: Chronic Vitalism: Lessons from the History of Science 10.1 Chronic Vitalism 10.2 Lesson One: The Refutations of (Biological) Vitalism 10.3 Lesson Two: The Logic of Chronic (Biological) Vitalism 10.4 Lesson Three: Re-consider the Roles of Vitalism in the History of Science 10.5 Concluding Remarks References Chapter 11: A Critique of Current Philosophy of Biology 11.1 Anti-reductionism 11.2 Organicism 11.3 Teleology 11.4 Evolution 11.5 Concluding Remarks References Chapter 12: Conclusion: On the Riddle of Life 12.1 Life: Intension and Extension 12.2 A Recent Debate on the Riddle of Life 12.3 A Modified Kantian Solution 12.4 Life, Matter, and Mind: Science Against Metaphysics References Index