Philosophy of Biology Before Biology (History and Philosophy of Biology)

The use of the term "biology" to refer to a unified science of life emerged around 1800 (most prominently by scientists such as Lamarck and Treviranus, although scholarship has indicated its usage at least 30-40 years earlier). The interplay between philosophy and natural science has also accompanied the constitution of biology as a science. Philosophy of Biology Before Biology examines biological and protobiological writings from the mid-eighteenth century to the early nineteenth century (from Buffon to Cuvier; Kant to Oken; and Kielmeyer) with two major sets of questions in mind: What were the distinctive conceptual features of the move toward biology as a science? What were the relations and differences between the "philosophical" focus on the nature of living entities, and the "scientific" focus? This insightful volume produces a fresh but also systematic perspective both on the history of biology as a science and on the early versions of, in the 1960s in a post-positivist context, the philosophy of biology. It will appeal to students and researchers interested in fields such as history of science, philosophy of science and biology.

• | Author: C?cilia Bognon-K?ss, Charles T. Wolfe
• | Publisher: Routledge
• | Publication Date: Feb 19, 2019
• | Number of Pages: 220 pages
• | Language: English
• | Binding: Hardcover
• | ISBN-10: 1138652873
• | ISBN-13: 9781138652873