img
Life's Organization Between Matter and Form: Neo-Aristotelian Approaches and Biosemiotics     
Yazarlar
Dr. Öğr. Üyesi Çağlar KARACA Dr. Öğr. Üyesi Çağlar KARACA
Kastamonu Üniversitesi, Türkiye
Özet
In this paper, I discuss the neo-Aristotelian approaches, which usually reinterpret Aristotle's ideas on form and/or borrow the notion of formal cause without engaging with the broader implications of Aristotle's metaphysics. In opposition to these approaches, I claim that biosemiotics can propose an alternative view on life's form. Specifically, I examine the proposals to replace the formal cause with gene-centrism, functionalism, and structuralism. After critically addressing these approaches, I discuss the problems of reconciling Aristotelianism with the modern view of life's organization. I claim that the notion of the final cause proposes a cosmological hierarchy and that this is the main problem with applying the formal cause to biology. An alternative categorization of conceptualizing life's form involves (1) the processual identity, (2) relational property clusters, and (3) context-dependent transmission of representational units. The third category points to a semiotic basis of the form of life. In this context, I offer to readjust the focus of the problem of matter-form duality by pointing out that form is primarily an issue of the subject-object relation. Biosemiotics helps to understand the constructive role of symbolic representation in living systems, which is crucial to extend the analysis of the form from cognitive representations to external phenomena. Emergence of subjectivity and perspectivity of interactions are key elements to bridge the form and actual processes within a non-hylomorphic account. To demonstrate transitions from the physical influence of shapes to the organic recognition of forms, I address the biological studies on the synchronization of coincidental inputs and enzyme specificity.
Anahtar Kelimeler
Genetic determinism | Hylomorphism | Neo-Aristotelianism | Semiotics
Makale Türü Özgün Makale
Makale Alt Türü SSCI, AHCI, SCI, SCI-Exp dergilerinde yayımlanan tam makale
Dergi Adı HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF THE LIFE SCIENCES
Dergi ISSN 0391-9714
Dergi Tarandığı Indeksler SSCI
Dergi Grubu Q2
Makale Dili İngilizce
Basım Tarihi 06-2021
Cilt No 43
Sayı 2
Doi Numarası 10.1007/s40656-021-00412-8
Makale Linki https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40656-021-00412-8
BM Sürdürülebilir Kalkınma Amaçları
Atıf Sayıları
Life's Organization Between Matter and Form: Neo-Aristotelian Approaches and Biosemiotics

Paylaş