Article ID: CBB872058525

Kant, Linnaeus, and the economy of nature (2020)

unapi

Ecology arguably has roots in eighteenth-century natural histories, such as Linnaeus's economy of nature, which pressed a case for holistic and final-causal explanations of organisms in terms of what we'd now call their environment. After sketching Kant's arguments for the indispensability of final-causal explanation merely in the case of individual organisms, and considering the Linnaean alternative, this paper examines Kant's critical response to Linnaean ideas. I argue that Kant does not explicitly reject Linnaeus's holism. But he maintains that the indispensability of final-causal explanation depends on robust modal connections between types of organism and their functional parts; relationships in Linnaeus's economy of nature, by contrast, are relatively contingent. Kant's framework avoids strong metaphysical assumptions, is responsive to empirical evidence, and can be fruitfully compared with some contemporary approaches to biological organization.

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Authors & Contributors
Zammito, John H.
Beekman, Wim
Alleva, Karina
Jochemsen, Henk
Corti, Luca
Boucher, Sandy C.
Concepts
Biology
Teleology
Philosophy of biology
Functionalism
Mechanism; mechanical philosophy
Philosophy
Time Periods
18th century
19th century
Enlightenment
20th century, late
Places
Germany
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