Table Of ContentHistory, Philosophy and Theory of the Life Sciences
Giuseppe Bianco
Charles T. Wolfe
Gertrudis Van de Vijver Editors
Canguilhem
and Continental
Philosophy
of Biology
History, Philosophy and Theory of the Life
Sciences
Volume 31
Series Editors
Philippe Huneman, Institut d’histoire et de philosophie des sciences et des
techniques, CNRS - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (IHPST), Paris, France
Thomas A. C. Reydon, Institute of Philosophy & CELLS, Leibniz Universität
Hannover, Hannover, Germany
Charles T. Wolfe, Département de Philosophie & ERRAPHIS, Université de
Toulouse Jean-Jaurès, Toulouse, France
Editorial Board Members
Marshall Abrams, University of Alabama, Birmingham, AL, USA
André Ariew, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA
Domenico Bertoloni Meli, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA
Richard Burian, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA
Minus van Baalen, Institut Biologie de l’Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France
Pietro Corsi, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
François Duchesneau, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada
John Dupre, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
Paul Farber, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
Lisa Gannett, Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, NS, Canada
Andy Gardner, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK
Jean Gayon, UFR de Philosophie, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Paris, France
Guido Giglioni, University of Macerata, Civitanova Marche, Italy
Paul Griffiths, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Thomas Heams, AgroParisTech, Paris Cedex 05, France
James G. Lennox, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Annick Lesne, Sorbonne Université, Paris, France
Tim Lewens, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
Edouard Machery, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Alexandre Métraux, Archives Poincaré, Nancy, France
Hans Metz, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
Roberta L. Millstein, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
Staffan Müller-Wille, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
François Munoz, Université Montpellier 2, Montpellier, France
Dominic Murphy, University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW, Australia
Stuart A. Newman, New York Medical College, Valhalla, NY, USA
Frederik Nijhout, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
Samir Okasha, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
Susan Oyama, The City University of New York, New York, USA
Kevin Padian, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
David Queller, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
Stephane Schmitt, Archives Poincaré, Nancy, France
Phillip Sloan, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, USA
Jacqueline Sullivan, Western University, London, ON, Canada
Giuseppe Testa, University of Milan, Milan, Italy
J. Scott Turner, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry,
Syracuse, NY, USA
Denis Walsh, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
Marcel Weber, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
History, Philosophy and Theory of the Life Sciences is a space for dialogue
between life scientists, philosophers and historians – welcoming both essays about
the principles and domains of cutting-edge research in the life sciences, novel ways
of tackling philosophical issues raised by the life sciences, as well as original
research about the history of methods, ideas and tools, which constitute the
genealogy of our current ways of understanding living phenomena.
The series is interested in receiving book proposals that • are aimed at academic
audience of graduate level and up • combine historical and/or philosophical and/or
theoretical studies with work from disciplines within the life sciences broadly
conceived, including (but not limited to) the following areas: • Anatomy &
Physiology • Behavioral Biology • Biochemistry • Bioscience and Society • Cell
Biology • Conservation Biology • Developmental Biology • Ecology • Evolution &
Diversity of Life • Genetics, Genomics & Disease • Genetics & Molecular Biology
• Immunology & Medicine • Microbiology • Neuroscience • Plant Science •
Psychiatry & Psychology • Structural Biology • Systems Biology • Systematic
Biology, Phylogeny Reconstruction & Classification • Virology The series editors
aim to make a first decision within 1 month of submission. In case of a positive first
decision the work will be provisionally contracted: the final decision about
publication will depend upon the result of the anonymous peer review of the
complete manuscript. The series editors aim to have the work peer-reviewed within
3 months after submission of the complete manuscript. The series editors discourage
the submission of manuscripts that contain reprints of previously published material
and of manuscripts that are below 150 printed pages (75,000 words). For inquiries
and submission of proposals prospective authors can contact one of the editors:
Charles T. Wolfe: [email protected] Philippe Huneman: [email protected]
Thomas A.C. Reydon: [email protected]
Giuseppe Bianco • Charles T. Wolfe
Gertrudis Van de Vijver
Editors
Canguilhem and Continental
Philosophy of Biology
Editors
Giuseppe Bianco Charles T. Wolfe
Department of Philosophy Département de Philosophie & ERRAPHIS
and Cultural Heritage (DFBC) Université de Toulouse Jean-Jaurès
Ca’Foscari University Toulouse, France
Venice, Italy
Gertrudis Van de Vijver
Department of Philosophy
and Moral Sciences
Ghent University
Ghent, Belgium
ISSN 2211-1948 ISSN 2211-1956 (electronic)
History, Philosophy and Theory of the Life Sciences
ISBN 978-3-031-20528-6 ISBN 978-3-031-20529-3 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-20529-3
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature
Switzerland AG 2023
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether
the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of
illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and
transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar
or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication
does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant
protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book
are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the
editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any
errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional
claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Giuseppe Bianco, Charles T. Wolfe, and Gertrudis Van de Vijver
Part I Biophilosophical Backgrounds: Faultlines and Forerunners
Analytic and Continental Approaches to Biology and Philosophy:
David Hull and Marjorie Grene on ‘What Philosophy
of Biology Is Not’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Pierre-Olivier Méthot
All Knowledge Is Orientation: Marjorie Grene’s Ecological
Epistemology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Phillip Honenberger
“Dilettantes of Life.” Franco-German Refractions
of Anthropogenesis in Twentieth Century Philosophy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Thomas Ebke
Part II Canguilhem’s Philosophy of Biology
“Unknown Material”? Georges Canguilhem, French Philosophy
and Medicine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Giuseppe Bianco
Life, Concept and Purpose: The Organism as a Connection
in Kant’s Critical Philosophy and Georges Canguilhem’s
Historical Epistemology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Giulia Gandolfi
Canguilhem’s Divided Subject: A Kantian Perspective
on the Intertwinement of Logic and Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Levi Haeck and Gertrudis Van de Vijver
vii
viii Contents
Knowledge, Life, and Error. Nietzschean Themes
in the Work of Georges Canguilhem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Henning Schmidgen
Neither Angel Nor Beast: Life and/Versus Mind in Canguilhem
and Merleau-Ponty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Sebastjan Vörös
Canguilhem and the Promise of the Flesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Charles T. Wolfe
Part III Beyond Canguilhem
What Is Biological Normativity? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Paul-Antoine Miquel
Self-Organizing Life: Michel Serres and the Problem
of Meaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Massimiliano Simons
French Philosophy of Technology and Technoscience:
A Study on the Mode of Existence of Bio-objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Jessica Lombard
A Bergsonian Perspective on Causality and Evolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Mathilde Tahar
Introduction
Giuseppe Bianco, Charles T. Wolfe, and Gertrudis Van de Vijver
Abstract In this Introduction we lay out the context of a ‘Continental philosophy
of biology’ and suggest why Georges Canguilhem’s place in such a philosophy is
important. There is not one single program for Continental philosophy of biology,
but Canguilhem’s vision, which he referred to at one stage as ‘biological philoso-
phy’, is a significant one, located in between the classic holism-reductionism ten-
sions, significantly overlapping with philosophy of medicine, philosophy of
technology and other themes moving away from the more common existential and
phenomenological motifs of post-war European thought. Chapters examine (among
other themes) his relation to Lebensphilosophie, to authors such as Kant, Nietzsche
and Marjorie Grene, and to current theoretical biology
Keywords Canguilhem · Philosophy of biology
G. Bianco (*)
Department of Philosophy and Cultural Heritage (DFBC), Ca’Foscari University,
Venice, Italy
e-mail: [email protected]
C. T. Wolfe
Département de Philosophie & ERRAPHIS, Université de Toulouse Jean-Jaurès,
Toulouse, France
e-mail: [email protected]
G. Van de Vijver
Department of Philosophy and Moral Sciences, Ghent University,
Ghent, Belgium
e-mail: [email protected]
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 1
Switzerland AG 2023
G. Bianco et al. (eds.), Canguilhem and Continental Philosophy of Biology,
History, Philosophy and Theory of the Life Sciences 31,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-20529-3_1
2 G. Bianco et al.
1 Introduction
For a variety of historical and theoretical reasons, little of the work that is now done
under the heading of “philosophy of biology” deals with the core questions that the
life sciences have traditionally posed to philosophers. Those questions primarily
pertain to the concepts of “life” and “organism,” which can be seen as constitutive
of the proper domain of the biological sciences, and which are inhabited by meta-
physical, epistemological, and moral issues that directly impact one’s approach
within the life sciences.
Although contemporary philosophy of biology, as developed in the Anglo-
American world since the 1960s, has turned its attention away from the fundamental
issues proper to these sciences, the very mention of which seems to summon the
ghosts of vitalism and teleology, philosophers of the life sciences on the continent
have never ceased to be preoccupied by them. Despite François Jacob’s (1973)
famous claim that life is no longer an object of inquiry in laboratories, and despite
Michel Foucault’s (1994) idea that the very concept of life is doomed to disappear,
since it belongs to an old “epistemé,” the fundamental notions proper to the life sci-
ences still provoke important debates which resonate with discussions that emerged
during the long nineteenth century, and are often tied to what went under the name
of “life-philosophies” or Lebensphilosophie (see Bianco, 2019). Refusing to leave
behind concepts such as “life” and “organism”, but on the contrary insisting upon
addressing them, time and again, along and in dialogue with the developments of
the life sciences – that is perhaps what best characterizes the various continental
approaches in philosophy of biology. The figure of Georges Canguilhem is para-
mount here.
The challenge is thereby not so much to attempt to comply with specific scien-
tific standards paradigmatically identified with those of physics and chemistry
(which can be seen as reductionist, as Canguilhem did), nor to conclude, in the
absence thereof, that there are concepts, such as life, which irremediably escape
scientific treatment. The challenge is, rather, to pursue the question of what it can
mean to consider a living being, i.e. an organism, as an object of science, and to
make room, through the living, for a more generous, a more subtle, an “extended”
conception of science and scientific objectivity.
At times there were competitor terms for the Continental version of philosophy
of biology, such as “biophilosophy” or “biological philosophy” (Gayon, 2009).
Some of these versions had a pronounced anti-reductionist or anti-naturalist focus,
which will be discussed and evaluated in this volume (for a study that looks beyond
thinkers like Marjorie Grene and Canguilhem, to the Cambridge Theoretical
Biology Club in the early twentieth century, see Peterson, 2017). Sometimes these
projects have a pronounced Kantian focus (Van de Vijver & Demarest, 2013;
Huneman, 2017), which is also present in this volume, to which we return below.
Rather than anti-naturalism or anti-reductionism, perhaps the term “heterodox
naturalism” can best capture this specific focus we aim at here: it is a naturalism
indeed, in as far as the aim is not to be opposed to what is being discovered and
