A Critique of Current Philosophy of Biology

As demonstrated in Chap. 1 , current philosophy of biology is deeply hostile to vitalism. Simultaneously, it is widely acknowledged that philosophy of biology seeks to distance itself from reductionism, often referred to as physicalism in the epistemological version. Consequently, to defend the autonomy of biology, philosophers must navigate a middle path between vitalism and reductionism. This has led to the popularity of positions such as anti-reductionism, organicism (or emergentism), along with appeals to teleological terms in biological discourse. In this chapter, I offer a critique of current philosophy of biology by examining anti-reductionism, organicism, and teleology. I argue that these positions, intended to defend the autonomy of biology, inherently gravitate towards vitalism. I also briefly examine doctrines of evolution, contending that Driesch’s vital evolutionism—rather than Darwinism or Neo-Darwinism—holds promise for yielding a genuine synthetic theory of biology, namely, a comprehensive theory of life.