Do microbes question standard thinking in the philosophy of biology?

According to the ethic of life, all living organisms are of special moral importance. Living things, unlike simple artifacts or biological collectives, are not mere things whose value is entirely instrumental. This book articulates why the ethic is immune to most of the standard criticisms raised against it, but also why such an ethic is untenable, why the domain of moral concern does not extend to all living things; it argues for an old conclusion in an entirely new way. To see why the ethic must be abandoned requires that we look carefully at the foundations of the ethic—the ways in which it is tightly connected to issues in the philosophy of biology and the sorts of assumptions it must draw on to distinguish the living from the nonliving. This book draws on resources from a variety of branches of philosophy and the sciences to show that the ethic cannot survive this scrutiny, and it articulates what the death of the ethic of life means in a variety of areas of practical concern, including environmental ethics, biomedical ethics, ethics of technology, and in philosophy more generally.

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Coming of age in the Philosophy of Biology∗

Inquiry ◽

10.1080/00201748708602134 ◽

1987 ◽

Vol 30 (4) ◽

pp. 459-475

Author(s):

Michael Bradie

Keyword(s):

Coming Of Age ◽

Philosophy Of Biology

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Karl Popper's Philosophy of Biology

Philosophy of Science ◽

10.1086/288772 ◽

1977 ◽

Vol 44 (4) ◽

pp. 638-661 ◽

Cited By ~ 33

Author(s):

Michael Ruse

Keyword(s):

Philosophy Of Biology

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The Causal Structure of Natural Selection

10.1017/9781108680691 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Charles H. Pence

Keyword(s):

Natural Selection ◽

Case Studies ◽

Genetic Drift ◽

Evolutionary Theory ◽

Causal Structure ◽

Philosophy Of Biology ◽

Philosophy Of Physics ◽

Potential Value ◽

Multi Level ◽

Evolutionary Explanations

Recent arguments concerning the nature of causation in evolutionary theory, now often known as the debate between the 'causalist' and 'statisticalist' positions, have involved answers to a variety of independent questions – definitions of key evolutionary concepts like natural selection, fitness, and genetic drift; causation in multi-level systems; or the nature of evolutionary explanations, among others. This Element offers a way to disentangle one set of these questions surrounding the causal structure of natural selection. Doing so allows us to clearly reconstruct the approach that some of these major competing interpretations of evolutionary theory have to this causal structure, highlighting particular features of philosophical interest within each. Further, those features concern problems not exclusive to the philosophy of biology. Connections between them and, in two case studies, contemporary metaphysics and philosophy of physics demonstrate the potential value of broader collaboration in the understanding of evolution.

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La enseñanza de Filosofía de la Biología en clave de ciencia o creencia. Algunas herramientas conceptuales para definir las preferencias docentes

Contrastes Revista Internacional de Filosofía ◽

10.24310/contrastescontrastes.v0i0.1176 ◽

2013 ◽

Author(s):

África Villanueva ◽

Vicente Claramonte

Keyword(s):

Teaching Practices ◽

Philosophy Of Biology ◽

Five Factors ◽

The Relationship

RESUMENEste artículo pretende obtener medidas cuantitativas sobre las actitudes manifestadas por los académicos hacia cuestiones relativas a la Filosofía de la Biología y el creacionismo, y a la docencia de la Biología en general; e igualmente, determinar la relación entre las actitudes o posiciones de dichos académicos sobre la Filosofía de la Biología y sus actitudes hacia la práctica docente. Al efecto, propone cinco factores cuantitativos. El artículo termina estableciendo ciertas correlaciones no causales entre algunos de estos cinco factores cuantitativos, para trazar un perfil significativo sobre las preferencias del profesorado en Filosofía de la Biología al impartir su enseñanza en cuestiones concernidas por la relación ciencia-creencia.PALABRAS CLAVEFILOSOFÍA DE LA BIOLOGÍA, EDUCACIÓN, CREACIONISMO, DISEÑO INTELIGENTE, METODOLOGÍAABSTRACTThis paper aims to develop quantitative measures of scholars’ attitudes toward the Philosophy of Biology and creationism, along with general questions about the teaching of Biology. Moreover, the study analyses the relationships between these academics’ orientations towards the Philosophy of Biology and their attitudes towards teaching practices. To that effect, we propose five quantitative factors. The results do establish certain correlations between these five factors. The paper ends by describing lecturers’ preferences in relation to the Philosophy of Biology and their teaching of matters regarding the relationship between science and belief.

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Normas naturales y funciones biológicas

Contrastes Revista Internacional de Filosofía ◽

10.24310/contrastescontrastes.v0i0.1162 ◽

2013 ◽

Author(s):

Cristian Saborido

Keyword(s):

Biological Function ◽

Biological Systems ◽

Philosophy Of Biology ◽

Current Debate ◽

Biological Functions ◽

Naturalistic Account ◽

Organizational Approach

RESUMENEn este trabajo abordo el problema de la fundamentación teórica de la noción de normatividad natural desde una perspectiva naturalista. Presento el debate actual sobre las funciones biológicas en filosofía de la biología, en el cual pueden encontrarse algunos intentos de fundamentar las normas naturales a través del concepto de función biológica. Sostengo que el enfoque predominante etiológico-evolutivo no es capaz justificar la adscripción de normas naturales en los sistemas biológicos y propongo que la nueva perspectiva organizacional está en la mejor posición para ofrecer un tratamiento naturalista de la teleología biológica y de la normatividad natural.PALABRAS CLAVENORMATIVIDAD, FUNCIÓN, NATURALISMO, TELEOLOGÍA, MALFUNCIÓN, ORGANIZACIÓNABSTRACTIn this paper I consider the problem of the theoretical grounding of the notion of natural normativity for the naturalistic perspective. I present the current debate on biological functions in philosophy of biology in which there are some attempts to ground natural norms through the notion of biological function. I argue that the mainstream account, i.e. the evolutive-etiological approach, is not able to ground the ascription of natural norms in biological systems and I defend that the new organizational approach is in the best position to offer an adequate naturalistic account for biological teleology and natural normativity.KEYWORDSNORMATIVITY, FUNCTION, NATURALISM, TELEOLOGYGY, MALFUNCTION, ORGANIZATION

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