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Final Causes and Instant Cases: A Comment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 May 2016

Stephen G. Salkever*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania 19010
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Extract

I strongly agree with what I take to be Arnhart's basic claims: that Aristotle's teleological biology is plausible in the light of what we now think about good scientific practice, and that it provides a kind of basis or vocabulary for moral and practical deliberation that is lacking in nonteleological or reductionist biology. Arnhart's defense of these claims is important both because he suggests a more expansive notion of what counts as biological science and because he in effect challenges Macintyre's (1981) claim that Aristotle's biology is “metaphysical” and so cannot serve as a basis for theorizing about moral and political matters. Arnhart makes his case well, and I was especially instructed by his discussion of Sacks' work as an example of a teleological vocabulary applied to moral and psychiatric questions.

Type
Articles and Commentaries
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Politics and the Life Sciences 

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References

Note

1. Plato makes a similar distinction between aitia and sunaitia in the Statesman.Google Scholar