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WHAT CAN PIAGET OFFER LONERGAN'S PHILOSOPHY OF BIOLOGY?
Author(s) -
Friel Chris
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
zygon®
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.222
H-Index - 23
eISSN - 1467-9744
pISSN - 0591-2385
DOI - 10.1111/zygo.12195
Subject(s) - philosophy of biology , epistemology , philosophy , structuralism (philosophy of science) , philosophy of science , darwin (adl) , epigenesis , cognitive science , biology , psychology , computer science , genetics , gene expression , software engineering , dna methylation , gene
In Insight , Bernard Lonergan provides, albeit schematically, a unique philosophy of biology which he takes as having “profound differences” with the world view presented by Darwin. These turn on Lonergan's idea of “schemes of recurrence” and of organisms as “solutions to the problem of living in an environment.” His lapidary prose requires some deciphering. I present the broad lines of his philosophy of biology and argue that Jean Piaget's structuralism can shed light on Lonergan's intentions in virtue of his use of cybernetics and the isomorphism between biology and knowledge. In turn, Piaget draws on Waddington's restatement of epigenesis and I suggest that the result, “process structuralism,” is a viable alternative to the modern Darwinian synthesis.