The idea of organism-environment interaction, at least in its modern form, dates only to the mid-nineteenth century. After sketching the origins of the organism-environment dichotomy in the work of Auguste Comte and Herbert Spencer, I will chart its metaphysical and methodological influence on later scientists and philosophers such as Conwy Lloyd Morgan and John Dewey. In biology and psychology, the environment was seen as a causal agent, highlighting questions of organismic variation and plasticity. In philosophy, organism-environment interaction provided a new foundation for ethics, politics, and scientific inquiry. Thinking about organism-environment interaction became indispensable, for it had restructured our view of the biological and social world.
CITATION STYLE
Pearce, T. (2014). The Origins and Development of the Idea of Organism-Environment Interaction. In History, Philosophy and Theory of the Life Sciences (Vol. 4, pp. 13–32). Springer Science and Business Media B.V. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7067-6_2
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