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Reillumination of Immanuel Kant’s Teleological View of Nature - With Emphasis on the Teleological Position of Contemporary Biology and Biological Philosophy -
Journal of Humanities
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Immanuel Kant’s biological philosophy is at the center of his philosophicalsystem that seeks for the harmony and the unity of nature and freedom. From the perspective of contemporary biology armed with the mechanism ofevolution and genetic engineering, however, Kant’s thought of organism canfind itself difficult to sustain itself and to be generally accepted. This studyis aimed at figuring out, first, to what extent can the philosophy and thesystem of Kant — which are add odds with the current view of organism —be maintained if we accept the biological organism which is the dominatingview of contemporary biology, and, second, what role can the philosophy ofKant play to promote the view of biological organism under the preconditionthat it is not perfect in itself. Recent studies of biological philosophy usually take an affirmative stancewith regard to the opinion that the teleological explanation of biology cannotbe reductive to the mechanical views but nevertheless can be naturalized aslong as it is compatible with other systems of explanations in natural science. Nevertheless, there is a substantial difference between naturalized teleology, orteleonomy, and conventional teleology. This study, therefore, has found out the differences, and examined how Kant’s teleology in the history ofphilosophy can be reinterpreted — despite the differences — in the paradigmof contemporary teleology and how Kant’s teleology can supplement thevulnerable points of contemporary teleology.
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