Re: Long Rant: Hegel & Biology

Bruce Robinson (bruce.rob who-is-at btinternet.com)
Tue, 3 Nov 1998 14:09:51 -0000

>(1)So, being a good li'l grad student, I wonder: what might it mean if
>"knowlegde/epistemologiy/dialectics were avaiable in a dialectical
>materialism of the organic? Really: what if "metaphysics" are organic
>projections of flesh, biology, complex electromagnetic interactionism,
>pheronomes, touch...
>
>(2) Are dialectical interpretations sufficient for such epistemological
>qualifications ?

I'm not sure if this quite answers your point, but there are two books I can
suggest that address biology from that point of view and implicitly answer
both your questions 'yes'.

Steven Rose's most recent book 'Lifelines': an deeply dialectical book which
is both a polemic against the two most fashionable reductionisms (genetic
explanations for everything and universal Darwinism) and an exposition of
his own view of human development.

Lewontin and Levins' 'The Dialectical Biologist' is more of a conscious
attempt to show the value of dialectics and focuses both on biology as
science and biology in society.

All three authors are radical practising scientists, which makes neither for
uncritical science nor for the waffle that constitutes much of the sociology
of science.

Long may you rant (as long as I can rant back at you :))!

Bruce Robinson