How Kant Matters For Biology: A Philosophical History

(Hardback)

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A re-evaluation of Kants influence on science in light of Kants own views on biology.

Kant denied biology the status of a proper science, yet his account of the organism profoundly influenced a range of intellectual disciplines. This book examines Kants influence on biology in the British Isles by proposing that his influence owes to misunderstandings of his philosophy. Andrew Jones exposes the incompatibility between transcendental realism and scientific naturalism and charts how Kant, nevertheless, influenced various aspects of the scientific method. With this context in mind, Jones examines the extent to which core concepts in contemporary philosophynatural law, the unity of science, and our understanding of organisms are compatible with scientific naturalism and proposes new avenues for developing Kant-inspired approaches within contemporary philosophy of science.

Reviews

"How Kant Matters for Biology offers a decisive contribution to both Kant scholarship and philosophy of biology. The author challenges us to rethink Kant's influence on British bioscience from Whewell to Darwin, and thereby to reimagine the theoretical implications of Kant's account of teleological judgement for contemporary work on biological autonomy (or for several of the most pressing questions in philosophy of science, including the unity of science, the epistemic status of natural laws, and biological individuality). It is ambitious in scope without giving up on technical clarity - a landmark in the contemporary literature on Kant and biology."-- "Andrew Cooper, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of Warwick"

Author Bio

Andrew Jones is an impact fellow in the School of Education at the University of Exeter.