THE PROXIMATE/ULTIMATE DISTINCTION IN THE MULTIPLE CAREERS OF MAYR,ERNST

THE PROXIMATE/ULTIMATE DISTINCTION IN THE MULTIPLE CAREERS OF MAYR,ERNST
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DOI:
10.1007/bf00857940
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发表时间:
1994-07-01
影响因子:
2.5
通讯作者:
BEATTY, J
BEATTY, J
中科院分区:
人文科学4区
文献类型:
--
作者:
BEATTY, J

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恩斯特·迈尔对“终极”原因和“近因”原因的区分被公正地认为是对生物学哲学的重大贡献。但迈尔是如何得出这种“哲学”上的区别的,它在他早期的“科学”工作中扮演了什么角色?为了解决这些问题,我将迈尔的工作分为三个职业或阶段:1);迈尔是博物学家/研究者,迈尔是进化生物学和系统学的代表和发言人,最近的迈尔是生物学的历史学家和哲学家。如果我们想要理解近因/终极区别在梅尔作为哲学家和历史学家的近期职业生涯中所扮演的角色,那么考虑他在研究过程中,以及在他推动进化生物学和系统学专业的过程中,对这种区别的早期使用,将会有所帮助。我相信,这种方法也会为迈尔捍卫的其他一些重要的“哲学”立场提供启示,包括“本质主义”和“人口思维”之间的区别。
Ernst Mayr's distinction between ''ultimate'' and ''proximate'' causes is justly considered a major contribution to philosophy of biology. But how did Mayr come to this ''philosophical'' distinction, and what role did it play in his earlier ''scientific'' work? I address these issues by dividing Mayr's work into three careers or phases: I);Mayr the naturalist/researcher, 2) Mayr the representative of and spokesman for evolutionary biology and systematics, and more recently 3) Mayr the historian and philosopher of biology. If we want to understand the role of the proximate/ultimate distinction in Mayr's more recent career as a philosopher and historian, then it helps to consider his earlier, use of the distinction, in the course of his research, and in his promotion of the professions of evolutionary biology and systematics. I believe that this approach would also shed light on some other important ''philosophical'' positions that Mayr has defended, including the distinction between ''essentialism: and ''population thinking.''