Book contents
- The Cambridge History of Philosophy, 1945–2015
- The Cambridge History of Philosophy, 1945–2015
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface and Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Analytic Philosophy
- Section One Language, Mind, Epistemology
- Section Two Logic, Metaphysics, Science
- 10 Logic in the Second Half of the Twentieth Century
- 11 (Re)discovering Ground
- 12 Lewis’s Theories of Causation and Their Influence
- 13 Naturalism from the Mid-Twentieth Century to the Present
- 14 The History of Philosophy of Science
- 15 A Modern Synthesis of Philosophy and Biology
- Section Three Analytic Moral, Social, and Political Philosophy
- Section Four Analytic Aesthetics and Philosophy of Religion
- Part II Continental Philosophy
- Part III Bridge Builders, Border Crossers, Synthesizers, and Comparative Philosophy
- Part IV Epilogue: On the Philosophy of the History of Philosophy
- References
- Index
15 - A Modern Synthesis of Philosophy and Biology
from Section Two - Logic, Metaphysics, Science
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 November 2019
- The Cambridge History of Philosophy, 1945–2015
- The Cambridge History of Philosophy, 1945–2015
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface and Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Analytic Philosophy
- Section One Language, Mind, Epistemology
- Section Two Logic, Metaphysics, Science
- 10 Logic in the Second Half of the Twentieth Century
- 11 (Re)discovering Ground
- 12 Lewis’s Theories of Causation and Their Influence
- 13 Naturalism from the Mid-Twentieth Century to the Present
- 14 The History of Philosophy of Science
- 15 A Modern Synthesis of Philosophy and Biology
- Section Three Analytic Moral, Social, and Political Philosophy
- Section Four Analytic Aesthetics and Philosophy of Religion
- Part II Continental Philosophy
- Part III Bridge Builders, Border Crossers, Synthesizers, and Comparative Philosophy
- Part IV Epilogue: On the Philosophy of the History of Philosophy
- References
- Index
Summary
There is much to be said for the birth of philosophy of biology coming out of the Modern (Evolutionary) Synthesis (MS) during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. While biologists such as Theodosius Dobzhansky, Julian Huxley, George Gaylord Simpson, and Ernst Mayr launched the MS, philosophers as interpreters and critics played a significant part in determining its faith, as we shall see. Moreover, as noted by Marjorie Grene and David Depew, “The work of defending, expanding, challenging, and, perhaps, replacing the Modern Synthesis has tended to bring out the philosopher in many evolutionary biologists” (2004: 248).
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- The Cambridge History of Philosophy, 1945–2015 , pp. 210 - 220Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019
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