Everything Flows

This collection of essays explores the metaphysical thesis that the living world is not ontologically made up of substantial particles or things, as has often been assumed, but is rather constituted by processes. The biological domain is organized as an interdependent hierarchy of processes, which a...

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Wedi'i Gadw mewn:
Manylion Llyfryddiaeth
Fformat: Online
Iaith:Saesneg
Cyhoeddwyd: Oxford University Press 2021
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Mynediad Ar-lein:1000196
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collection Directory of Open Access Books
description This collection of essays explores the metaphysical thesis that the living world is not ontologically made up of substantial particles or things, as has often been assumed, but is rather constituted by processes. The biological domain is organized as an interdependent hierarchy of processes, which are stabilized and actively maintained at different timescales. Even entities that intuitively appear to be paradigms of things, such as organisms, are actually better understood as processes. Unlike previous attempts to articulate processual views of biology, which have tended to use Alfred North Whitehead’s panpsychist metaphysics as a foundation, this book takes a naturalistic approach to metaphysics. It submits that the main motivations for replacing an ontology of substances with one of processes are to be looked for in the empirical findings of science. Biology provides compelling reasons for thinking that the living realm is fundamentally dynamic and that the existence of things is always conditional on the existence of processes. The phenomenon of life cries out for theories that prioritize processes over things, and it suggests that the central explanandum of biology is not change but rather stability—or, more precisely, stability attained through constant change. This multicontributor volume brings together philosophers of science and metaphysicians interested in exploring the consequences of a processual philosophy of biology. The contributors draw on an extremely wide range of biological case studies and employ a process perspective to cast new light on a number of traditional philosophical problems such as identity, persistence, and individuality.
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publishDate 2021
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spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-365232025-05-09T09:05:35Z Everything Flows Nicholson, Daniel J. Dupré, John explanation identity individuality metaphysics of science organism persistence philosophy of biology process ontology substance ontology symbiosis Evolution This collection of essays explores the metaphysical thesis that the living world is not ontologically made up of substantial particles or things, as has often been assumed, but is rather constituted by processes. The biological domain is organized as an interdependent hierarchy of processes, which are stabilized and actively maintained at different timescales. Even entities that intuitively appear to be paradigms of things, such as organisms, are actually better understood as processes. Unlike previous attempts to articulate processual views of biology, which have tended to use Alfred North Whitehead’s panpsychist metaphysics as a foundation, this book takes a naturalistic approach to metaphysics. It submits that the main motivations for replacing an ontology of substances with one of processes are to be looked for in the empirical findings of science. Biology provides compelling reasons for thinking that the living realm is fundamentally dynamic and that the existence of things is always conditional on the existence of processes. The phenomenon of life cries out for theories that prioritize processes over things, and it suggests that the central explanandum of biology is not change but rather stability—or, more precisely, stability attained through constant change. This multicontributor volume brings together philosophers of science and metaphysicians interested in exploring the consequences of a processual philosophy of biology. The contributors draw on an extremely wide range of biological case studies and employ a process perspective to cast new light on a number of traditional philosophical problems such as identity, persistence, and individuality. 2021-02-10T12:58:18Z 2018-07-01 23:55 2020-01-26 03:15:56 2020-04-01T12:37:18Z 2018 book 1000196 OCN: 1051780720 http://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/29752 9780198779636 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/36523 eng open access image/jpeg image/jpeg image/jpeg image/jpeg image/jpeg image/jpeg n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/29752/1/9780198779636.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/29752/1/9780198779636.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/29752/1/9780198779636.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/29752/1/9780198779636.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/29752/1/9780198779636.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/29752/1/9780198779636.pdf Oxford University Press db4e319f-ca9f-449a-bcf2-37d7c6f885b1 FP7 Ideas: European Research Council 7292b17b-f01a-4016-94d3-d7fb5ef9fb79 9780198779636 European Research Council (ERC) EU collection 416 Oxford, UK 324186 FP7 open access
spellingShingle explanation
identity
individuality
metaphysics of science
organism
persistence
philosophy of biology
process ontology
substance ontology
symbiosis
Evolution
Everything Flows
title Everything Flows
title_full Everything Flows
title_fullStr Everything Flows
title_full_unstemmed Everything Flows
title_short Everything Flows
title_sort everything flows
topic explanation
identity
individuality
metaphysics of science
organism
persistence
philosophy of biology
process ontology
substance ontology
symbiosis
Evolution
topic_facet explanation
identity
individuality
metaphysics of science
organism
persistence
philosophy of biology
process ontology
substance ontology
symbiosis
Evolution
url 1000196