The Problem of Animal Generation in Early Modern Philosophy

Table of Contents

Part I. The Dawning of a New Era:
1. The comparative study of animal development: from Aristotle to William Harvey J. G. Lennox
2. Monsters, nature, and generation from the Renaissance to the Early Modern period: the emergence of medical thought Annie Bitbol-Hesperies
Part II. The Cartesian Programme:
3. Descartes' experiments and the generation of animals Vincent Aucante
4. Imagination and the problem of heredity in Cartesian embryology Justin E. H. Smith
Part III. The Gassdendian Alternative:
5. The soul as vehicle for genetic information: Pierre Gassendi's account of inheritance Saul Fisher
6. Atoms and minds in Walter Charleton's theory of animal generation Andreas Blank
Part IV. Second-Wave Mechanism and the Return of Animal Souls, 1650–1700:
7 Animal generation and substance in Sennert and Leibniz Richard T. W. Arthur
8. Malebranche on animal generation: pre-existence and the microscope Andrew J. Pyle
9. Spontaneous and sexual generation in Ann Conway's Principles Deborah Boyle
10 'Animal' as category: Pierre Bayle's 'Rorarius' Dennis Des Chene
Part V. Between Epigenesis and Pre-Existence: The Debate Intensifies, 1700–70:
11. Method and cause: the Cartesian context of the Haller-Wolff debate Karen Detlefsen
12. Soul power: G. E. Stahl and the debate on animal generation Francesco Paolo di Ceglia
13. Charles Bonnet's neo-Leibnizian theory of organic bodies Francois Duchesneau
Part VI. Kant and His Contemporaries on Development and the Problem of Organized Matter:
14. Kant's early views on epigenesis: the role of Maupertuis John Zammito
15. Blumenbach and Kant on the formative drive: mechanism and teleology in nature Brandon Look
16. Kant and the speculative sciences of origins Catherine Wilson
17. Kant and evolution Michael Ruse.

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• Front Matter (140 KB)
• Marketing Excerpt (161 KB)
• Index (151 KB)
• Copyright Information Page (70 KB)
• Table of Contents (79 KB)