The hole in the whale - The philosophy of biology
Posted on July 11, 2017 by scheichsbeutel on litteratur.ch Actually, I had planned to avoid books by science journalists in the future: the experiences of the past few years have been more than mixed (read here and here, for example). But this time it was worth it, a really successful, extremely stimulating book. The structure seems a little confusing: in addition to five detailed interviews at the end of the book (with greats such as Ernst Mayr, John Maynard Smith, Bert Hölldobler and Francisco J. Ayala), the opening chapters deal with the philosophical implications of biology (and above all of the Darwinism) compared to academic philosophy and theoretical physics. It is not always very clear who is holding which opinion (something that also stands out negatively in the interviews): Is it the biologists or physicists quoted or is it the author himself who supports these positions. Also, the section on disease and evolution doesn't quite fit that scheme and feels like a foreign body. The nice thing about it: Like almost all other parts of the book, it is extremely informative and attractively written.
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I fully agree with the call for greater consideration of Darwinism in philosophy: I can only subscribe to Ernst Mayr's dictum that there is no more important scientific finding for philosophy than Darwin's theory. It is more than regrettable that these – especially in epistemological terms – groundbreaking findings are hardly reflected in philosophical research. However, the view (of Mayr in particular) is clouded by the fact that he apparently had no knowledge of evolutionary epistemology and had a somewhat antiquated view of philosophy in general. Of course, it is correct to claim that philosophizing in the wake of Platonic idealism is a prime example of the ignorance of many representatives of the philosophical guild (by starting from a static world view that Darwinism with its dynamic approach is diametrically opposed to
Bubi Joker
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