Kant, a Founder of Biology
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24310/nyl.20.2026.22035Keywords:
Organism, Living Being, Nature Purpose, TeleologyAbstract
In his pre-critical period, Kant, influenced by Buffon, proposed a radical change in Naturgeschichte: that this discipline should not study classifications of living beings, but rather their history and development. In his third critique, Kant continued to defend this same idea, now supported by his notion of organism (a self-organised being conceivable as a natural end and with a history). His conception of the organism, as well as his proposal on natural history, influenced his era and the subsequent one, both in Germany and France, laying the foundations for what we now know as biology.
Downloads
References
Álvarez, J. R. (1998): «Una débil esperanza: La idea kantiana de una ciencia biológica», Thémata, (20), 57-58.
Andaluz Romanillos, A. M. (1990): La finalidad de la naturaleza en Kant. Un estudio desde la Crítica del Juicio. Salamanca: Publicaciones Universidad Pontificia Salamanca. DOI: https://doi.org/10.36576/summa.916
Arana, J. (1998): «Introducción. La biología y el quehacer filosófico», Thémata, (20), 9-24.
Arquiola E., y L., Montiel (1995): La corona de las ciencias naturales. Madrid: CSIC.
Beck, C. W. (1960): «Georg Ernst Stahl, 1660-1734», Journal of Chemical Education, 37(10), 506-510. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/ed037p506
Blumenbach, J. F. (1781): Über den Bildungstrieb und das Zeugungsgeschäfte. Göttingen: G. Foster.
Blumenbach, J. F. (1799): Handbuch der Naturgeschichte, Göttinge: Johann Christian Dieterich.
Blumenbach, J. F. (1803) : Manuel d´histoire Naturelle. Paris : Soulange Artaud. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.81743
Canguilhem, G. (1972): «La fisiología animal», en R. Taton, (ed.), Historia general de las ciencias, Barcelona: Destino.
Caponi, G. (2004): «Georges Cuvier: ¿un nombre olvidado en la historia de la fisiología?», Asclepio, LVI(1), 169-207. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3989/asclepio.2004.v56.i1.76
Caponi, G. (2012): «Kant: entre Buffon y Cuvier», Filosofia e História da Biologia, 7(1), 43-53.
Carus, P. (1892): «Kant on Evolution. In Criticism of Mr. Herbert Spencer´s Presentation of Kantism», The Monist, 2(4), 33-53. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5840/monist18922423
Cuvier, G. (1805) : Leçons d´Anatomie Comparée I. Paris : Baudouin. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.114836
Cuvier, G. (1825) : Recherches sur les ossesments fossiles, París : Deterville.
Dictionaire des sciences médicales par une société de médicins et de chirurgiens (1818).
Diéguez, A. (2011): «¿Qué es la biología?», Encuentros en la biología, 4(132), 3-5.
Kant, I. [1775]. Von der verschieden Rassen der Menschen, en I. Kant (1900 y ss.), Kant's Gesammelte Schriften. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, Berlin (Akademie-Ausgabe = AA II).
Kant, I. [1790]. Kritik der Urteilskraft, en I. Kant (1900 y ss.), Kant's Gesammelte Schriften. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, Berlin (Akademie-Ausgabe = AA IV).
Kant, I. (2007): Crítica del juicio. Madrid: Espasa Calpe.
Lenoir, T. (1980): «Kant, Blumenbach, and Vital Materialism in German biology», Isis, 71, 70-108. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/352408
Laín Entralgo, P. (1978): Historia de la medicina. Barcelona: Salvat.
Le Guyader, H. (1988) : Theories et histoire en Biologie, París: Vrin. Limoges.
Mayr, E. (2000): Así es la biología. México D. F.: Editorial Debate.
Nuño de la Rosa, L., y Etxeberria, A. (2010): «¿Fue Darwin el “Newton de la brizna de hierba”? La herencia de Kant en la teoría darwinista de la evolución», ENDOXA: Series Filosóficas, 24, 185-216. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5944/endoxa.24.2010.5217
Raspa, V. (2025): «The young Hegel and the search for a language», Studia Hegeliana, 11, 27-43. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24310/stheg.11.2025.21301
Romagnoli, A. (2025): «L’alienazione hegeliana: un concetto plurale», Studia Hegeliana, 11, 109–126. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24310/stheg.11.2025.21372
Rosas, A. (2008): «Kant y la ciencia natural de los organismos», Ideas y valores, 137, 5-23.
Stahl, G. E. (1714): Dissertatio inauguralis medica de medicina medicinae curiosae. Halle: Literis Christiani Henckeli.
Schultze, F. (1875): Kant und Darwin: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Entwicklungslehre, Jena: H. Dufft. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.147233
Taquet, P. (2006) : Georges Cuvier : neissance d´un génie. París : Odile Jacob.
Teruel, P. J. (2025): «The final synthesis: Theimplications of the natural philosophy contained in the Opus postumum for the question “What is ahu-man being?”», Naturaleza y Libertad, 19, 83-106. DOI: 10.24310/nyl.19.2025.20334 DOI: https://doi.org/10.24310/nyl.19.2025.20334
Zammito, J. H. (1992): The Genesis of Kant´s Critique of Judgement. London: The University of Chicago Press.
Zammito, J. (2018): The Gestation of German Biology. Philosophy and Physiology from Stahl to Schelling, Chicago: University Press of Chicago. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226520827.001.0001
Downloads
Published
Dimensions
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Nature & Freedom. Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Those authors who have publications with this journal, accept the following terms:
1. Copyright and licensing information are clearly described on the journal’s web site: all content published in Naturaleza y Libertad is open acces without limit, and are subject to the Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license. The full text of which can be consulted at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
2. It is the responsibility of the authors to obtain the necessary permissions for the images that are subject to copyright. The authors whose contributions are accepted for publication in this journal will retain the non-exclusive right to use their contributions for academic, research and educational purposes, including self-archiving or deposit in open access repositories of any kind. The electronic edition of this magazine is edited by the Editorial de la University of Malaga (UmaEditorial), being necessary to cite the origin in any partial or total reproduction.
3. This journal allows and encourages authors to publish papers on their personal websites or in institutional repositories, both before and after their publication in this journal, as long as they provide bibliographic information that accredits, if applicable, your posting on it.
4. In no case will anonymous papers be published.
How to Cite
18.png)
