Biological Purposiveness and Analogical Reflection

Breitenbach, Angela

doi:10.1515/9783110225792.131

Cited by 43 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 10 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…At the same time, he warned against an anthropomorphism that comes with taking this as the literal, ultimate truth about the natural world. He wrote in the Critique of the Power of Judgment that, "we picture to ourselves the possibility of the [biological] object on the analogy of a causality of this kind-a causality such as we experience in ourselves-and so regard nature as possessed of a capacity of its own for acting technically" (Kant, 1790/1952Breitenbach, 2014). But as Illetterati (2014, p. 91) explains, "these kinds of notions, even if necessary, seem to maintain a sort of fictional character too: indeed, they have no justification in things themselves, but neither do they have their origin in mere human invention.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Artifacts and levels of abstraction

Chirimuuta

2022

Front. Ecol. Evol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The purpose of this article is to show how the comparison or analogy with artifacts (i.e., systems engineered by humans) is foundational for the idea that complex neuro-cognitive systems are amenable to explanation at distinct levels, which is a central simplifying strategy for modeling the brain. The most salient source of analogy is of course the digital computer, but I will discuss how some more general comparisons with the processes of design and engineering also play a significant role. I will show how the analogies, and the subsequent notion of a distinct computational level, have engendered common ideas about how safely to abstract away from the complexity of concrete neural systems, yielding explanations of how neural processes give rise to cognitive functions. I also raise worries about the limitations of these explanations, due to neglected differences between the human-made devices and biological organs.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Artifacts and levels of abstraction

Chirimuuta

2022

Front. Ecol. Evol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…On the inexplicability of Naturzweck,s ee Kreines (2005,2 84-288).  Forr ecent accounts of this analogy,s ee Illetterati (2014, 91-95); Breitenbach (2014).  By contrast,the teleological antinomyisnot aconflict between constitutive principles of the power of judgment in its determininguse and thus does not concern objective propositions regarding the possibilityo fo bjectso ra ctual features of objects.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What Was Kant’s Contribution to the Understanding of Biology?

Shimony¹

2017

Kant Yearbook

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Kant’s theory of biology in the Critique of the Power of Judgment may be rejected as obsolete and attacked from two opposite perspectives. In light of recent advances in biology one can claim contra Kant, on the one hand, that biological phenomena, which Kant held could only be explicated with the help of teleological principles, can in fact be explained in an entirely mechanical manner, or on the other, that despite the irreducibility of biology to physico-mechanical explanations, it is nonetheless proper science. I argue in response that Kant’s analysis of organisms is by no means obsolete. It reveals biology’s uniqueness in much the same way as several current theorists do. It brings to the fore the unique purposive characteristics of living phenomena, which are encapsulated in Kant’s concept of “natural end” and which must be explicated in natural terms in order for biology to become a science. I maintain that Kant’s reluctance to consider biology proper science is not a consequence of his critical philosophy but rather of his inability to complete this task. Kant lacked an appropriate theoretical framework, such as provided later by modern biology, which would enable the integration of the unique features of biology in an empirical system. Nevertheless, as I show in this paper, the conceptual problems with which Kant struggled attest more to the relevance and depth of his insights than to the shortcomings of his view. His contribution to the biological thought consists in insisting on an empirical approach to biology and in providing the essential philosophical underpinning of the autonomous status of biology.

show abstract

“… 6. Analogical reasoning and teleological judgment are closely related. See Breitenbach (2014), Van Den Berg (2018: 67–76), and Bennington (2017). …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Kant’s domestic analogy: international and global order

Burles

2022

European Journal of International Relations

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The domestic analogy is an old but persistent problem in theories of international politics. This paper examines the problem in the work of Immanuel Kant, whose political writings are often cited as a paradigmatic example of the analogy between individuals and states. Attention to Kant’s own conception of analogy, however, shows that the political writings are structured by another “domestic analogy”—between international and cosmopolitan right. This analogy, I argue, is based on a correspondence between the systematic unity of the international and the spherical globe, the figure that for Kant represents the boundaries of world order. International and cosmopolitan right are thus distinguished on the basis of a geopolitical criterion: the global scope of international order. This analogy of order, the paper argues, thus works to domesticate world politics through the structural form of international order. To the extent that contemporary theories of international relations rely on this conception of order, they accept Kant’s answer to the problem of perpetual peace. The paper concludes by drawing broader conclusions from the analysis about the domestic analogy, international order, and world politics.

show abstract

Biological Purposiveness and Analogical Reflection

Cited by 43 publications

References 10 publications

Artifacts and levels of abstraction

Artifacts and levels of abstraction

What Was Kant’s Contribution to the Understanding of Biology?

Kant’s domestic analogy: international and global order

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About