Philosophy Dictionary of ArgumentsHome
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| Vitalism: representatives of vitalism assumed that life is a kind of principle added to the non-living matter. This principle turns inorganic matter into organic matter. Aristotle had already adopted a principle of life by using his concept of entelecheia, which has its goal in itself._____________Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments. | |||
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Ernst Mayr on Vitalism - Dictionary of Arguments
I 29 Vitalists/Vitalism/Mayr: Appropriateness (before Kant). >Purposefulness. "Protoplasm": a special substance that inanimate matter lacks. I 31 Vitality, "élan vital". Fluid: (no liquid) Debate "Preformations/Epigenesis Theory 2nd half of the 18th century. Preformationists: believed that the parts of an adult individual were already present in smaller form at the beginning of its development. (Caspar Friedrich Wolff refuted preformation, needed causal power "vis essentialis"). I 33 Epigenetics: assumed that they appeared as products of a development, not at the beginning. >Terminology/Mayr. Blumenbach, rejected "vis essentialis" and spoke of "educational drive" that plays a role not only in the embryo but also in growth, regeneration and reproduction. I 35 Selection theory: made vitalism superfluous: Haeckel:"We recognize in Darwin's selection the decisive proof for the exclusive effectiveness of mechanical causes in the entire field of biology... definitive end of all teleological and vitalistic interpretations of organisms".(1) I 35 Protoplasm: the search for it promoted a flourishing branch of chemistry: colloid chemistry. It was finally discovered that there is no protoplasm! Word and concept disappeared. Life: it became possible to explain it by means of molecules and their organisation! Organic/inorganic: in 1828 urea was synthesized: first proof of the artificial conversion of inorganic components into an organic molecule! I 38 Vitalism: Strange phenomenon: among the physicists of the 20th century vitalistic ideas arose. Bohr: in organisms, certain laws could have an effect that cannot be found in inanimate matter. Bohr looked in biology for evidence of its complementarity and drew on some desperate analogies. MayrVsBohr: there is really nothing that can be considered.(Unclear only in the subatomic field). Cf. >Eccles/Popper. 1. E. Haeckel (1869/1879). Über Entwicklungsgang und Aufgabe der Zoologie. In. Jeanuische zeitung 5 s. 353-370._____________Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition. |
Mayr I Ernst Mayr This is Biology, Cambridge/MA 1997 German Edition: Das ist Biologie Heidelberg 1998 |
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Ed. Martin Schulz, access date 2024-04-20