RHETOR 115 Chapter Notes - Chapter 6: Organism, Teleology
Document Summary
Mechanical theory of organism now considered narrow and insufficient. Philosophy points science towards a position to take. Problem: one directional attempt to explain the structure and function of the organism on the basis of the structure and function of the machine (not vice versa) Method of examination (1) meaning of the comparison of the organism to a machine (2) he relationship between mechanism and finalism (3) reversal of the traditional relationship between machines and organisms (4) philosophical consequences of the reversal. Machine defined: artificial construct and a work of man, whose function depends on mechanisms, contains degrees of freedom. The mechanist explanation of organic phenomena requires that machines exist as morotes, drawing energy from a source other than animal muscle. Aristotelian theory of movement: principle of all movement is the soul (soul explains desire, which moves the body) Descartes: mechanics is a theory of machines which presupposes a spontaneous invention that science must consciously and explicitly promote.
