The Basic Life Processes

Winfield, Richard Dien

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-75358-4_3

Richard Dien Winfield²

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Abstract

This chapter turns to Kant’s account of the internal teleology life to conceive the basic life processes: the complementary functionality of organic unity, metabolism, and reproduction. The chapter further explores the dynamic self-centered individuality of the organism by drawing upon Jonas’ investigation of metabolism. The difference between machines and organisms is then examined, shedding light on why no organism can be a product of intelligent design and why DNA does not function as a blueprint of life.

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Notes

1.
Hegel, Science of Logic, pp. 761–774.
2.
Kant, Critique of Judgment, §64–66, p. 242–249.
3.
Kant, Critique of Judgment, §62, pp. 235–238.
4.
Kant, Critique of Judgment, §63, pp. 239–241.
5.
Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, A211–235/B256–287, pp. 316–333.
6.
Hume, An Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding, pp. 40–53.
7.
Kant, Critique of Judgment, §61, p. 234.
8.
Kant, Critique of Judgment, § 63, p. 241.
9.
Kant, Critique of Judgment, §64, p. 242.
10.
Kant, Critique of Judgment, §64, p. 242.
11.
It turns out, however, that all such ethical ends amount to realizations of a willing that is lawful not because of the content of its ends, but due to its lawful form.
12.
Kant, Critique of Judgment, §64, p. 242.
13.
Kant, Critique of Judgment, §64, p. 243.
14.
Hegel, Philosophy of Nature, Zusatz to §337, p. 274.
15.
Kant, Critique of Judgment, §64, p. 243.
16.
Kant, Critique of Judgment, §64, p. 243.
17.
Kant, Critique of Judgment, §65, p. 245.
18.
Kant, Critique of Judgment, §64, p. 243.
19.
Kant, Critique of Judgment, §64, pp. 243–244.
20.
Jonas, The Phenomenon of Life, p. 75ff.
21.
Jonas, The Phenomenon of Life, pp. 97–98.
22.
Jonas, The Phenomenon of Life, p. 98.
23.
Jonas, The Phenomenon of Life, p. 79.
24.
Jonas, The Phenomenon of Life, pp. 81–82.
25.
Jonas, The Phenomenon of Life, p. 81.
26.
Jonas, The Phenomenon of Life, p. 81.
27.
Jonas, The Phenomenon of Life, p. 83.
28.
Jonas, The Phenomenon of Life, pp. 85–86.
29.
Martin Heidegger, Being and Time, trans. John Macquarrie and Edward Robinson (New York: Harper & Row, 1962), p. 225 ff.
30.
Jonas, The Phenomenon of Life, p. 86.
31.
Kant, Critique of Judgment, §65, p. 245.
32.
Kant, Critique of Judgment, §65, pp. 245–246.
33.
Aristotle, Metaphysics, 1036b30-33, in The Complete Works of Aristotle, Volume Two, p. 1637.
34.
Kant, Critique of Judgment, §65, p. 245.
35.
Kant, Critique of Judgment, §65, p. 246.
36.
Jonas, The Phenomenon of Life, note 13, p. 76.
37.
Jonas, The Phenomenon of Life, note 13, p. 76.
38.
Jonas, The Phenomenon of Life, note 13, p. 76.
39.
Jonas, The Phenomenon of Life, p. 77.
40.
Kant, Critique of Judgment, §65, p. 246.
41.
Daniel Dennett, Darwin’s Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life (New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 1995), p. 112.
42.
Dennett, Darwin’s Dangerous Idea, p. 113.

Bibliography

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Department of Philosophy, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA
Richard Dien Winfield

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Richard Dien Winfield
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Winfield, R.D. (2018). The Basic Life Processes. In: Universal Biology after Aristotle, Kant, and Hegel. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75358-4_3

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75358-4_3
Published: 26 April 2018
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-75357-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-75358-4
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)

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