Remapping Biology with Goethe, Schelling, and Herder

by Gregory Rupik

Remapping Biology with Goethe, Schelling, and Herder recruits a Romantic philosophy of biology into contemporary debates to both integrate the theoretical implications of ecology, evolution, and development, and to contextualize the successes of the Modern Evolutionary Synthesis’s gene’s-eye-view of biology. The dominant philosophy of biology in the twentieth century was one developed within and for the Modern Evolutionary Synthesis. As biologists like those developing an Extended Evolutionary Synthesis have pushed the limits of this paradigm, fresh philosophical approaches have become necessary. This book makes the case that an organicism developed by the 19th century figures Goethe, Schelling, and Herder offers surprising resources to navigate the contemporary biological and evolutionary terrain. This “metamorphic organicism” resonates with present trends in biological theory that emphasize process, organismal dynamics, ecology, and agency. It also proposes strategies for reintegrating reductive and mechanistic maps of biology, like those of the Modern Evolutionary Synthesis, into richer theoretical representations of life. Drawing from cutting-edge biology, Romantic history, and perspectival pluralist literatures, this integrated history-and-philosophy-of-biology will be of interest to students and scholars interested in the genesis of current theoretical tensions in evolutionary biology, and to those seeking constructive ways to resolve those tensions, including practicing biologists and educators.

184 pages, Hardcover

Published March 18, 2024

Reviews

[Allan Olley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This short work is a survey of some issues in philosophy of modern biology and a case for the value of the ideas of the romantic poets/intellectuals as a source of useful ideas. The book begins by characterizing the focus of post world war II philosophy of biology as a narrow view centering to the exclusion of all else the Modern Evolutionary Synthesis that focused on the mathematical modeling of evolution through population genetics. This is criticized and some examples of phenomenon in biology are adduced to attempt to demonstrate the inadequacy of the position as a total interpretation of biology. Rupik then details some of the biological ideas of Goethe, Schelling and Herder that emphasize not merely whole organisms but the complex adaptive change of an organism over its life cycle. Rupik dubs the position he finds in these three Metamorphic Organisism. A touchstone is Goethe's discussion of plant metamorphosis that is growth and propagation. Rupik seeks to show both how the ideas of these thinkers are flexible enough to adapt to the needs of later biological developments and offer useful guides to thought about life. He also connects their ideas to later developments in biology in the 19th century and later.

Overall the argument of the book is tight and relatively effective. However it is often occurring at an abstract level, the biological claims are broad and theoretic and arguably more at stake are yet broader philosophic claims about how best to understand and direct our investigations in general. Few if any specific investigations into specific plants or other phenomenon are examined in detail and instead the focus is more on trends in research and how they support or undermine broad views such as the gene centric view of biology.

I did a PhD in the same department as Rupik but my expertise are in physics and computers, I am not competent to evaluate the accuracy of the portrayal of modern philosophy of biology it presents nor judge the prospects of the alternative offered, but the case feels suggestive to me. Likewise the perspective it offers of Romantic scientific thought seems broad and well grounded and touches on many interesting issues.

The writing is clear and seems on point and engaging. This was based on the author's PhD dissertation and two of the footnotes still refer to it as a dissertation, but I did not notice any serious editing issues or other errors.

I read this as an ebook in pdf format and there did not seem to be any serious problems.