Greif, Hajo (2015) The Darwinian Tension: Romantic Science and the Causal Laws of Nature. Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, 53. pp. 53-61. ISSN 1369-8486
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Abstract
There have been attempts to subsume Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution under either one of two distinct intellectual traditions: early Victorian natural science and its descendants in political economy (as exemplified by Herschel, Lyell, or Malthus) and the romantic approach to art and science emanating from Germany (as exemplified by Humboldt and Goethe). In this paper, it will be shown how these traditions may have jointly contributed to the design of Darwin’s theory. The hypothesis is that their encounter created a particular tension in the conception of his theory which first opened up its characteristic field and mode of explanation. On the one hand, the domain of the explanandum was conceived of under a holistic and aesthetic view of nature that, in its combination with refined techniques of observation, was deeply indebted to Humboldt in particular. On the other hand, Darwin fashioned explanations for natural phenomena, so conceived, in order to identify their proper causes in a Herschelian spirit. The particular interaction between these two traditions in Darwin, it is concluded, paved the way for a transfer of the idea of causal laws to animate nature while salvaging the romantic idea of a complex, teleological and harmonious order of nature.
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| Item Type: | Published Article or Volume | ||||||
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| Keywords: | Charles Darwin, Alexander von Humboldt, John F.W. Herschel, Teleology in nature, Aesthetics of nature, Causal explanation | ||||||
| Subjects: | Specific Sciences > Biology > Evolutionary Theory General Issues > Explanation General Issues > Reductionism/Holism |
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| Depositing User: | Dr. Hajo Greif | ||||||
| Date Deposited: | 31 Oct 2021 23:44 | ||||||
| Last Modified: | 31 Oct 2021 23:44 | ||||||
| Item ID: | 19775 | ||||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences | ||||||
| Publisher: | Elsevier | ||||||
| Official URL: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsc.2015.07.003 | ||||||
| DOI or Unique Handle: | 10.1016/j.shpsc.2015.07.003 | ||||||
| Subjects: | Specific Sciences > Biology > Evolutionary Theory General Issues > Explanation General Issues > Reductionism/Holism |
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| Date: | 7 August 2015 | ||||||
| Page Range: | pp. 53-61 | ||||||
| Volume: | 53 | ||||||
| ISSN: | 1369-8486 | ||||||
| URI: | https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/19775 |
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