Research Catalog

Title

The vital machine : a study of technology and organic life / David F. Channell.

Author

Channell, David F., 1945-

Publication

New York : Oxford University Press, 1991.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xi, 192 pages : illustrations; 25 cm

Subject

• Technology > Philosophy
• Vitalism
• Mechanism (Philosophy)
• Machinery > Philosophy
• Vitalism
• Machinery > Philosophy
• Technology > Philosophy
• Bionik
• Mechanisches System
• Naturphilosophie
• Organismus
• Philosophie
• Physik
• Physiologie
• Technikphilosophie
• Anthropologie
• Künstliche Intelligenz
• Lebenskraft
• Maschine
• Technologie
• Filosofische aspecten

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

Introduction: the mechanical and the organic : The problem ; An opposition of values ; The machine and the organic as symbols ; Mechanical and organic world views -- The mechanical world view: the clockwork universe : The mechanical clock ; Renaissance atomism ; Descartes’ mechanical philosophy ; Gassendi’s mechanical philosophy ; Hobbe’s mechanical philosophy ; Boyle’s mechanical philosophy ; The Newtonian world view ; The clockwork universe ; Mechanical theories of chemistry and heat ; Conclusion -- Mechanical organisms: from automata to clockwork humans : Automata ; A new physiology—the circulation of blood ; Philosophical physiology ; Iatromechanists ; The clockwork human ; The mechanical mind ; Conclusions -- The organic world view: from magic to vitalism : Alchemy and astrology ; Hermeticism ; Chemical philosophy ; Vitalism ; Romanticism and naturphilosophie ; Theories of classification ; Evolution ; Organic theories of society ; Conclusions -- Organic machines: technology as plant : Organic origins of technology ; Aristotelian theories of technology ; Organic theories of technology in the Middle Ages ; Technology and Renaissance magic ; Technology, magic, and the theater ; Technology, magic, and architecture ; Organicism and the steam engine ; The machine as plant ; Organic mechanisms ; Technology and evolution ; Technology, organicism, and Karl Marx ; Organic structures ; Conclusions -- The emergence of the bionic world view : Teleomechanism ; Cell theory ; Physical vitalism ; Organicism and holistic materialism ; The wave theory of light ; Field theories ; An electromagnetic view of nature ; The theory of relativity ; Radioactive atoms and quantized radiation ; Quantum mechanics ; The bionic world view ; The vital machine -- The vital machine : Systems building ; Computers ; Artificial intelligence ; Biomedical engineering ; Genetic engineering ; Conclusions: convergence -- Conclusion: ethics in the age of the vital machine : Traditional ethics ; Ethical problems in artificial intelligence ; Ethical problems in genetic engineering ; A bionic ethic.

ISBN

• 0195060407
• 9780195060409

LCCN

90020273

OCLC

• ocm22544765
• 22544765
• SCSB-9592166

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library