Everything Flows: Towards a Processual Philosophy of Biology

by Daniel J. Nicholson (Editor), John Dupré (Editor)

Everything Flows explores the metaphysical thesis that the living world is not made up of substantial particles or things, as has often been supposed, but is rather constituted by processes. The biological domain is organised as an interdependent hierarchy of processes, which are stabilized and actively maintained at different timescales. Even entities that intuitively appear to be paradigms of things, such as organisms, are actually better understood as processes. Unlike previous attempts to articulate processual views of biology, which have tended to use Alfred North Whitehead's panpsychist metaphysics as a foundation, this book takes a naturalistic approach to metaphysics. It submits that the main motivations for replacing an ontology of substances with one of processes are to be found in the empirical findings of science. Biology provides compelling reasons for thinking that the living realm is fundamentally dynamic, and that the existence of things is always conditional on the existence of processes. The phenomenon of life cries out for theories that prioritise processes over things, and it suggests that the central explanandum of biology is not change but rather stability, or more precisely, stability attained through constant change. This edited volume brings together philosophers of science and metaphysicians interested in exploring the prospects of a processual philosophy of biology. The contributors draw on an extremely wide range of biological case studies, and employ a process perspective to cast new light on a number of traditional philosophical problems, such as identity, persistence, and individuality.

Genres: Philosophy, Biology, Science, Metaphysics, Biography, Nonfiction

404 pages, Hardcover

Published July 31, 2018

Reviews

[Adam Curfman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a free digital book available online and is a collection of essays. I read most and found them to differ quite a bit in quality. A few were just too far over my head. I found parts 1 and 4 to be the most interesting personally.

[Matthew Roche · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely fascinating series of articles making the case that our intuitions (and most of the western tradition) that the universe is processes, and objects/substances are secondary artifacts. Not an easy read, but one that offers a unique perspective with its own heritage.

An anthology, so the quality varies, with some exceptional and some missable submissions.

[Andy Febrico Bintoro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Metaphysics

A bit metaphysical, though the theory here was from molecular biology. Maybe a bit holistic too in terms of philosophy used here.