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On Biological Analogs of Newtonian Paradigms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2022

Thomas S. Hall
Thomas S. Hall*
Affiliation:
Washington University
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Abstract

To what extent is the scientist's endeavor qua scientist influenced by his philosophic image of himself? A preliminary and partial answer to this question is suggested by a study of eight physiological thinkers of the second half of the eighteenth century, a period during which biology was much influenced by the scientific and philosophical ideas of Isaac Newton. At this time, physiologists invoked certain “principles,” “properties,” and “powers” which were deemed useful as explanatory devices, even though they could not themselves be explained. The use of these devices in physiology was often defended in terms of their supposed similarity to devices used in mathematics and Newtonian physics. The results of this practice are considered critically, partly in the light of current studies of scientific explanation.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 35 , Issue 1 , March 1968 , pp. 6 - 27
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 1968

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Footnotes

†

The author is grateful to Richard J. Durling, National Library of Medicine, for help in the interpretation of a number of points in Renaissance and Galenic physiology.

Work on this essay has been supported in part by National Science Foundation Grants GS-143 and GS-462.

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