Entelechy and Energy: Reconsidering Hans Driesch’s Vitalism in The Science and Philosophy of the Organism (2024)
This article reconsiders Hans Driesch’s vitalism, as articulated in his English book The Science and Philosophy of the Organism, from a novel perspective. The central thesis posits that Driesch’s vitalism was intricately intertwined with contemporary physical sciences, particularly the version of energy physics prevalent in the energetics movement at the turn of the twentieth century. More specifically, based on the conceptual framework provided by energeticists like Wilhelm Ostwald and Georg Helm, Driesch offered an intriguing treatment of the relationship between entelechy and energy within an updated Kantian philosophy of nature. This article reconstructs Driesch’s approach by elucidating four points. First, Driesch asserted that an entelechy strictly adhered to the conservation of energy. Second, he posited that the entelechy was not a form of energy and thus did not constitute a special kind of bio-specific vital energy. Third, he identified the entelechy’s most critical characteristic as its ability to suspend certain physico-chemical changes. Fourth, Driesch suggested that the entelechy influenced mechanical systems in a manner akin to Maxwell’s demon, raising the possibility of contravening the second law of thermodynamics. This article also contextualizes Driesch’s treatment within the broader development of energy physics in the latter half of the nineteenth century. In conclusion, this article offers some critical remarks on the peculiar historical phenomenon of chronic vitalism as identified by Driesch and others.
...MoreSimilar Citations
Article
Ricardo Lopes Coelho;
(2014)
On the Concept of Energy: Eclecticism and Rationality
Article
Jones, Anna Maria;
(2011)
Conservation of Energy, Individual Agency, and Gothic Terror in Richard Marsh's The Beetle, or, What's Scarier Than an Ancient, Evil, Shape-Shifting Bug?
Article
Deltete, Robert J.;
(2005)
Die Lehre von der Energie: Georg Helm's Energetic Manifesto
Article
Luca Guzzardi;
(2014)
Energy, Metaphysics, and Space: Ernst Mach’s Interpretation of Energy Conservation as the Principle of Causality
Article
Cahan, David;
(2012)
Helmholtz and the British Scientific Elite: From Force Conservation to Energy Conservation
Article
Lohrmann, Dietrich;
(2006)
Idee und Wirklichkeit des Perpetuum mobile im Mittelalter
Article
Francesco Guerra;
Matteo Leone;
Nadia Robotti;
(2014)
When Energy Conservation Seems to Fail: The Prediction of the Neutrino
Article
Wegener, Daan;
(2010)
De-Anthropomorphizing Energy and Energy Conservation: The Case of Max Planck and Ernst Mach
Article
Deltete, Robert J.;
(2008)
Wilhelm Ostwald's Energetics 3: Energetic Theory and Applications, Part II
Article
Deltete, R. J.;
(2007)
Wilhelm Ostwald's Energetics 2: Energetic Theory and Applications, Part I
Chapter
Pohl-Valero, Stefan;
(2009)
The Circulation of Energy: Thermodynamics, National Culture and Social Progress in Spain, 1868--1890
Book
Pohl Valero, Stefan;
(2011)
Energía y cultura: historia de la termodinámica en la España de la segunda mitad del siglo XIX
Book
Gold, Barri J.;
(2010)
ThermoPoetics: Energy In Victorian Literature and Science
Article
Deltete, Robert J.;
(2012)
Planck, Ostwald, and the Second Law of Thermodynamics
Chapter
Deltete, Robert J.;
(1995)
Gibbs and the energeticists
Thesis
Deltte, Robert J.;
(1983)
The energetics controversy in late 19th-century Germany: Helm, Ostwald and their critics
Thesis
Badia, Lynn Ann;
(2014)
A Universe of Forces: Energy in Early Twentieth-Century Theory and Literature
Article
Thomas M. Turnbull;
(2024)
Redefining Efficiency: US Physicists and the 1970s Energy Crisis
Article
Shaul Katzir;
(2019)
Employment Before Formulation: Uses of Proto-Energetic Arguments
Article
Germana Pareti;
(2017)
Hans Driesch’s Interest in the Psychical Research. A Historical Study
Be the first to comment!