Article ID: CBB685336938

The Metaphor of Epigenesis: Kant, Blumenbach and Herder (2016)

unapi

Over the last few decades, the meaning of the scientific theory of epigenesis and its significance for Kant's critical philosophy have become increasingly central questions. Most recently, scholars have argued that epigenesis is a key factor in the development of Kant's understanding of reason as self-grounding and self-generating. Building on this work, our claim is that Kant appealed to not just any epigenetic theory, but specifically Johann Friedrich Blumenbach's account of generation, and that this appeal must be understood not only in terms of self-organization, but also in terms of the demarcation of a specific domain of inquiry: for Blumenbach, the study of life; for Kant, the study of reason. We argue that Kant adopted this specific epigenetic model as a result of his dispute with Herder regarding the independence of reason from nature. Blumenbach's conception of epigenesis and his separation of a domain of the living from the non-living lent Kant the tools to demarcate metaphysics, and to guard reason against Herder's attempts to naturalize it.

...More
Included in

Article Gaukroger, Stephen W.; Dalia Nassar (2016) Introduction: Kant and the Empirical Sciences. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science (pp. 55-56). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB685336938/

Similar Citations

Article Zammito, John H.; (2012)
The Lenoir Thesis Revisited: Blumenbach and Kant (/isis/citation/CBB001221595/)

Article John H. Zammito; (2016)
Epigenesis in Kant: Recent Reconsiderations (/isis/citation/CBB404962128/)

Book Catherine Wilson; (2022)
Kant and the Naturalistic Turn of 18th Century Philosophy (/isis/citation/CBB775333088/)

Book Amanda Jo Goldstein; (2017)
Sweet Science: Romantic Materialism and the New Logics of Life (/isis/citation/CBB350652099/)

Article Richards, Robert J.; (2000)
Kant and Blumenbach on the Bildungstrieb: A Historical Misunderstanding (/isis/citation/CBB000770643/)

Article Steigerwald, Joan; (2002)
Instruments of Judgment: Inscribing Organic Processes in Late Eighteenth-Century Germany (/isis/citation/CBB000201183/)

Chapter Look, Brandon C.; (2006)
Blumenbach and Kant on Mechanism and Teleology in Nature: The Case of the Formative Drive (/isis/citation/CBB000771984/)

Thesis Ryan William Feigenbaum; (2017)
The Epistemic Foundations of German Biology, 1790-1802 (/isis/citation/CBB401142573/)

Article Anik Waldow; (2016)
Natural History and the Formation of the Human Being: Kant on Active Forces (/isis/citation/CBB003268321/)

Book Zammito, John H.; (2002)
Kant, Herder, and the Birth of Anthropology (/isis/citation/CBB000201708/)

Book Michela Massimi; Angela Breitenbach; (2017)
Kant and the Laws of Nature (/isis/citation/CBB352248455/)

Book Cécilia Bognon-Küss; Charles T. Wolfe; (2019)
Philosophy of Biology Before Biology (/isis/citation/CBB297114734/)

Authors & Contributors
Zammito, John H.
Breitenbach, Angela
Da Costa Gomes, Paulo Cesar
Look, Brandon C.
Massimi, Michela
Nassar, Dalia
Journals
Studies in History and Philosophy of Science
Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences
Herder Jahrbuch
Intellectual History Review
Notes and Records: The Royal Society Journal of the History of Science
Publishers
University of Chicago Press
Cambridge University Press
Oxford University Press
Routledge
Steiner
Emory University
Concepts
Life sciences
Biology
Philosophy of science
Materialism
Teleology
Metaphysics
People
Kant, Immanuel
Herder, Johann Gottfried
Blumenbach, Johann Friedrich
Kielmeyer, Carl Friedrich
Baader, Franz von
Blake, William
Time Periods
18th century
19th century
Enlightenment
17th century
Places
Germany
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment