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History and Philosophy of Biology

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Full-Text Articles in History

From Aristotle’S Teleology To Darwin’S Genealogy: The Stamp Of Inutility, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015 (Pdf: Introduction)., Marco Solinas Apr 2015

From Aristotle’S Teleology To Darwin’S Genealogy: The Stamp Of Inutility, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015 (Pdf: Introduction)., Marco Solinas

Marco Solinas

Starting with Aristotle and moving on to Darwin, Marco Solinas outlines the basic steps from the birth, establishment and later rebirth of the traditional view of living beings, and its overturning by evolutionary revolution. The classic framework devised by Aristotle was still dominant in the 17th Century world of Galileo, Harvey and Ray, and remained hegemonic until the time of Lamarck and Cuvier in the 19th Century. Darwin's breakthrough thus takes on the dimensions of an abandonment of the traditional finalistic theory. It was a transition exemplified in the morphological analysis of useless parts, such as the sightless eyes of …


Aristotle's Pluralistic Realism, Devin Henry Dec 2010

Aristotle's Pluralistic Realism, Devin Henry

Devin Henry

In this paper I explore Aristotle’s views on natural kinds and the compatibility of pluralism and realism, a topic that has generated considerable interest among contemporary philosophers. I argue that, when it came to zoology, Aristotle denied that there is only one way of organizing the diversity of the living world into natural kinds that will yield a single, unified system of classification. Instead, living things can be grouped and regrouped into various cross-cutting kinds on the basis of objective similarities and differences in ways that subserve the explanatory context. Since the explanatory aims of zoology are diverse and variegated, …


La Svista Di Darwin. Sulla Rivoluzione Della Tradizione Aristotelica, In «Chronos», 29 (2010), Pp. 5-28., Marco Solinas Dec 2009

La Svista Di Darwin. Sulla Rivoluzione Della Tradizione Aristotelica, In «Chronos», 29 (2010), Pp. 5-28., Marco Solinas

Marco Solinas

No abstract provided.


L’Impronta Dell’Inutilità. Il Tramonto Delle Cause Finali Nell’Impianto Evoluzionistico, In "Leussein. Rivista Di Studi Umanistici", Ii, 3/6 (2009), Pp. 127-145., Marco Solinas Dec 2008

L’Impronta Dell’Inutilità. Il Tramonto Delle Cause Finali Nell’Impianto Evoluzionistico, In "Leussein. Rivista Di Studi Umanistici", Ii, 3/6 (2009), Pp. 127-145., Marco Solinas

Marco Solinas

No abstract provided.


Organismal Natures, Devin Henry Dec 2007

Organismal Natures, Devin Henry

Devin Henry

No abstract provided.


Review Of Monte Ransome Johnson's Aristotle On Teleology, Devin Henry Jan 2007

Review Of Monte Ransome Johnson's Aristotle On Teleology, Devin Henry

Devin Henry

No abstract provided.


Aristotle On The Mechanisms Of Inheritance, Devin Henry Jan 2006

Aristotle On The Mechanisms Of Inheritance, Devin Henry

Devin Henry

In this paper I address an important question in Aristotle’s biology, What are the causal mechanisms behind the transmission of biological form? Aristotle’s answer to this question, I argue, is found in Generation of Animals Book 4 in connection with his investigation into the phenomenon of inheritance. There we are told that an organism’s reproductive material contains a set of ‘‘movements’’ which are derived from the various ‘‘potentials’’ of its nature (the internal principle of change that initiates and controls development). These ‘‘movements,’’ I suggest, function as specialized vehicles for com- municating the parts of the parent’s heritable form during …


Understanding Aristotle's Reproductive Hylomorphism, Devin Henry Dec 2005

Understanding Aristotle's Reproductive Hylomorphism, Devin Henry

Devin Henry

No abstract provided.


Embryological Models In Ancient Philosophy, Devin Henry Feb 2005

Embryological Models In Ancient Philosophy, Devin Henry

Devin Henry

No abstract provided.