Dynamique des formes et interprétation de la nature - article ; n°1 ; vol.11, pg 49-62

Recherches sur Diderot et sur l'Encyclopédie - Année 1991 - Volume 11 - Numéro 1 - Pages 49-62
Roselyne Rey : Dynamic forms and the interpretation of nature.
A study of the structure of the Pensées sur l'interprétation de la Nature and its elaboration starting from the central metaphor of the chain, leads to a reevaluation of the Baconian legacy in this work. Diderot's initial agreement with the principles of induction, in particular the importance of median axioms, leads to difficulties when he comes to reflect on the life sciences. Theses difficulties concern first of all the classic question of the legitimacy of abstraction, and secondly the newer and more intractable problem of the determination of the particular, which centres round the definition of the form. What is the form of life? What is a biological individual? These questions lead back to the dynamism of living forms.
14 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.