Article ID: CBB001221597

How Was Teleology Eliminated in Early Molecular Biology? (2012)

unapi

Sloan, Phillip R. (Author)


Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences
Volume: 43
Pages: 140--151


Publication Date: 2012
Edition Details: Part of a special section: “On Nature and Normativity: Normativity, Teleology, and Mechanism in Biological Explanation”
Language: English

This paper approaches the issue of the status of teleological reasoning in contemporary biology through a historical examination of events of the 1930s that surrounded Niels Bohr's efforts to introduce `complementarity' into biological discussions. The paper examines responses of three theoretical physicists who engaged boundary questions between the biological and physical sciences in this period in response to Bohr---Ernst Pascual Jordan (1902--80), Erwin Schrödinger (1887--1961), and Max Delbrück (1906--81). It is claimed that none of these physicists sufficiently understood Bohr's `critical' teleological arguments, which are traced to the lineage of Kant and Harald Høffding and their respective resolutions of the Antinomy of Teleological Judgment. The positions of these four historical actors are discussed in terms of Ernst Mayr's distinction of `teleological,' `teleomatic,' and `teleonomic' explanations. A return to some of the views articulated by Bohr, and behind him, to Høffding and Kant, is claimed to provide a framework for reintroducing a `critical' teleology into biological discussions.

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Article Moss, Lenny; Nicholson, Daniel J. (2012) On Nature and Normativity: Normativity, Teleology, and Mechanism in Biological Explanation. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences (p. 88). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001221597/

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Authors & Contributors
Faye, Jan
Beekman, Wim
Jochemsen, Henk
Dietmar Steverding
Leyla Joaquim
Zammito, John H.
Concepts
Mechanism; mechanical philosophy
Molecular biology
Biology
Teleology
Physics
Reductionism
Time Periods
20th century
20th century, early
18th century
Enlightenment
21st century
19th century
Places
Germany
France
Australia
Institutions
Marburg School of Philosophy
Philipps-Universität Marburg
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